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Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

ARTHUR POOLE

Law BooksettersA

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STARK'S 'g^jM^

HISTORY AND GUI&8R&

^j^tr^^-A

BARBADOS

AND THE

CARIBBEE ISLANDS,

CONTAINING

A DESCRIPTION OF EVERYTHING ON OR ABOUT THESE

ISLANDS OF WHICH THE VISITOR OR RESIDENT

MAY DESIRE INFORMATION,

INCLUDING THEIR

HISTORY, INHHBITflNTS, CLIMJTTE, AGRI-
CULTURE, GEOLOGY, GOVERNMENT
flND RESOURCES.

ENGRAVINGS AND PHOTO-PRINTS.

i3w» BY

..JAMES H. STARK.

BOSTON:
PHOTO-ELECTROTYPE Co., PUBLISH

BARBADOS : BOVVEN & SONS.

PUBLISHED AMD ILLUSTRATED BY THB

PHOT^-ELECTROTYPE Co.,

275 Washington Street,

BOSTON.

PREFACE.

My purpose in writing this book has been to
introduce to the notice of those unacquainted with
the Caribbee Islands and Barbados, some of the
many attractions to be found there, how to reach
these beautiful islands, their resources and produc-
tions ; and a brief history of their discovery and
settlement ; also the manners and customs of the
inhabitants, and a complete index and guide to all
points of interest.

These islands are now passing through a transition
state, what their industrial and political future will
be, it is impossible to tell. I have related, however,
what in my opinion, (based upon my observations
there and elsewhere), would be the result if the
negroes were allowed to rule.

In compiling this work, every authority that it was
possible to obtain on the subjects contained therein,,
has been consulted, and the information embodied in
this work. Much of the matter is compiled from
such authorities as Ligon's and Schomburgk's,
histories of Barbados, Moxley Guide to Barbados,
Froude's English in the West Indies, Paton's Down
the Islands, Black America, and many other works
too numerous to mention. The author also takes
pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to Mr.
James Howell of Barbados, and Mr. George S. Locke,
Supt. of the Quebec Steamship Co., and others, for
the many courtesies extended to him during his visit
to these islands.

L/ <^/<?l

Contents.

CHAPTKR. PAGB.

I. THE VOYAGE TO SANTA CRUIZE, ... i

II. ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, 9

III. NEVIS, ANTIGUA AND MONTSERRAT, . . 18

IV. GUADALOUPE AND DOMINICA, 27

V. MARTINIQUE AND ST. LUCIA, .... 42
BARBADOS, ITS FIRST APPEARANCE, EARLY

HISTORY 56

CIVIL WAR IN BARBADOS, .... 72

WARS WITH FRANCE, ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, 83

IX. INHABITANTS, WHITES, COLORED, AND NEGROES, 101
X. BARBADOS AS A HEALTH RESORT, AMUSEMENTS

AND RECREATION, no

XI . SEASIDE RESORTS, THE CRANE AND BATHSHEBA,

RAMBLES IN SCOTLAND HILLS, . . . 118

XII. CAVES .AND RAVINES, 127

XIII. OISTIN'S BAY, CHRIST CHURCH, REMARKABLE

OCCURRENCE, 140

XIV. HACKELTON'S CLIFF, ST. JOHN'S CHURCH,

PALEOLOGUS, INDIAN ANTIQUITIES, . . 148
XV. AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES, . . -153
RELIGION AND EDUCATION, . . . .161

XVII. THE GEOLOGY OF BARBADOS, .... 176

XVIII. WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO BARBADOS, BARBADIAN

HOSPITALITY, 184

XIX. THE FUTURE OF BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE

ISLANDS, 191

XX. NEGRO RULE IN HAYTI, 198

XXI. NEGRO RULE IN THE UNITED STATES, . . 206

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.

Carlisle Bay, Frontispiece.

After the Hurricane, Martinique, ..... 42

A Negro Beauty, . . . . . . . . 132

Antigua, ......... 24

Basseterre Park, St. Kitts, 6

Boiling Lake, Dominica, 33

Boiling House, 155

Botanical Gardens, Martinique, 46

Bowen, Dr. Residence, 112

Bridgetown Harbor, 84

Broad Street, Barbados, ...... 194

Carrying Pottery to Bridgetown, 124

Codrington College, 170

Curiosity Shop, 178

English Harbor, Antigua, 26

Entrance to Farley Hall, 150

First West Indian Regiment, . . . - .114

Going to Market, 131

Hot Springs, 48

Infantry Camp, Gun Hill, 94

Joe's River Plantation, 134

Ligon's Map of Barbados 1647, 158

Lord's Castle, . . . . • . . .118

Map of Barbados, 214

Map of the Caribbee Islands, 11

Map showing location of the Caribbee Islands, . . 3

Marine Hotel, Hastings, 58

Market, Guadaloupe, 29

Market Place, Dominica, 36

Mount Pleasant Plantation, 164

Mountains of Dominica, 39

Nevis 18

Parliament Buildings, . . . . . . . 68

INDEX.

Point A. Petre, Guadaloupe: 28

Public Square, Basseterre, 14

Public Buildings, . ..... 76

Ready for Market. , 157

Repairing tlie Road, 129

Roadside Scene, . . 122

Roebuck Street, Barbados, 202

Seashore, Bathsheba, ....... 120

Shot Hill 104

Sonfriere, St. Kitts, . . . . . . . 16

St. John's Church, Antigua, 22

St. Kitts, 12

The " Bridge " Bridgetown, 64

The Coffins, 145, 146

The Pitons, St. Lucia, 50

The Tomb, 141

Three Natives, 119

Trafalgar Square, 90

View in front of the Ice House, 58

Where Lord Nelson was Married, 20

Windmill, Mt. Pleasant, 154

Windmill and Boiling House, 154

STARR'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

BARBADOS

AND THE

CARIBBEE ISLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

THE VOYAGE. SANTA CRUZ.

To the tourists and invalids desirous of escaping
the rigors of a northern winter, a new and enchant-
ing field is opened up by a trip to Barbados by
way of the Windward Islands, known also as the
Caribbees or Lesser Antilles.

A trip from New York to the Caribbee Islands
occupies six days each way at sea. The direct dis-
tance from New York to St. Croix, the first island in
this group at which the steamer stops, is 1465 miles,
and from there to Barbados 400 miles : the actual run
to, and among the islands is about 2,000 miles.
The visitor has the choice of two lines of steamers
running from New York to Barbados. The Quebec
Steamship Co. dispatches a steamer every two weeks,
stopping at St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua, Guada-
loupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and Barba-
dos ; and sometimes at Montserrat and Nevis.

A day or two is spent at each place, discharging
and taking in cargo, thereby allowing ample time for
the passengers to go ashore for a drive or walk about
the island, the run between the islands being made
by night.

2 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

The U. S. and Brazil Mail Steamship Company
dispatches a first-class vessel every two weeks for
Brazil, stopping at St. Thomas, Martinique and Bar-
bados. It is a good plan for tourists to take a
steamer of this line from New York to Barbados, and
to return by the Quebec line, unless he desires to see
the Caribbee islands both going and coming. Of
course the Brazil line makes the quickest passage by
several days, as they do not stop at all the islands
at which the other line does.

The writer decided to take passage on the steamer
Caribbee of the Quebec Steamship Co. line. We
left the dock at New York at 3 P. M., Wednesday, in
the early part of January, during a driving northwest
snow storm, and the dock as we went aboard was
slippery with snow and ice. There was the usual
crowd and confusion before departure. Those going
could not be distinguished, till the bell rang to clear
the ship, from the friends who had accompanied
them to take leave.

It was bitter cold as we proceeded down New York
harbor. The steamer discharged the pilot at Sandy
Hook, and encountered at once heavy seas, which
speedily drove all the passengers to the seclusion of
their state rooms. Very few appeared at the table the
next morning, and taking it altogether Thursday was
a very uncomfortable day. Friday morning we were
in the Gulf Stream, the weather was mild and pleas-
ant, the passengers all on deck enjoying the mild
balmy air, and it was a sudden transition from winter
to spring.

The delightful change in the weather had a pleas-
ing effect upon the spirits of the ship's company ;
passengers whom we had not before seen, came from
the retirement of their stateroom to the deck, wraps
and overcoats were discarded, and there was no need
to pace the deck to keep warm. By noon, under the
genial influence of the sun, we became more and

»; ENGRAVED FOR

STARK'&, HISTORY AND GUIDE

BARBADOS ANDTHECARIBBEE
'.ISLANDS.

4 STA RA"S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

more affable. In a surprising short time we made
ourselves at home, striking up acquaintance with and
confiding in one another, in the manner of old
friends.

We entered the Gulf Stream 60 miles south of
Cape May, when 190 miles out, and for 150 miles
were crossing its axis ; passing, midway between
Charlestown, S. C. and Hamilton, the capital of the
Bermudas, where the current runs the strongest.

The southern limit of the Gulf Stream was reached
250 miles further, about sunrise Saturday morning,
Cape Hatteras having been passed about 10 o'clock
Friday night. Sunday the sea was calm and smooth
in the morning ; in the afternoon the northeast trade
winds were felt, and the next day, Monday, large
quantities of gulf-weed from the Saragasso Sea were
passed. Tuesday, the sixth day out, flying fish was
noticeable, and in the evening Culebrita Light was
sighted ; later, the curious Sail Rock, resembling
a ship, was passed. Porto Rico with the adjacent
Culebra and Crab Islands was in sight to the west ;
and St. Thomas, with St. John's and other of the Vir-
gin Islands, to the east. At 9 P. M. the anchor was
dropped in the harbor at Frederickstaed, St. Croix.

Now we are in the Caribbean sea among the islands
of the Caribs and the Cannibals. What memories of
the past and strange scenes, come floating before our
vision. As we look back into the history of these"\
islands, a shadowy procession of great figures pre-
sents itself. Columbus and Cortez and Las Casas,
the millions of Indians exterminated by the Spaniards
who formerly occupied these islands, the black swarms
who were poured in to take their places, the frightful
story of the slave trade, the thousands of white slaves
sent here to their death, the papal bull bestowing on
Spain all the countries within the tropics west of the
Atlantic. The English and French Protestants who
took to the sea like water dogs and challenged their \

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 5

enemies in their own special domain, here met the
Spainards gorged with plunder and wading in blood.
Here Drake and Hawkins interrupted the golden
stream which flowed from Panama into the exchequer
of Madrid, and furnished Philip with the means to
carry on his war with the Reformation. It was not
the Crown or the Government which fought these
battles, it was the people of England with their own
hands and their own resources. Buccaneers, pirates
or privateers, whatever we may call them, they were
the sea-warriors of the Reformation, when the nations
of the earth were breaking the chain in which king
and priest had bound them, uncommissioned, un-
recognized, fighting on their own responsibility, liable
to be disowned if they failed, while the outlawed
pirate of one year was promoted the next to be a
governor. The Caribbean Sea was the cradle of the
Naval Empire of Great Britian ; in these waters men
were formed and trained who drove the Armada
through the Channel into wreck and ruin. Had the
Armada succeeded there would have been no United
States today. North America would have been
Spanish and French. In these waters in the cen-
turies which followed, France and England fought
for the ocean empire, and England won it ; and that,
too, on the day when her own politicians' hearts had
failed them, when she had lost thirteen of her richest
and most prosperous colonies, when all the powers
of the world had combined to humiliate her. It was
then that Rodney shattered the French fleet in the
Caribbean sea, saved Gibralter, and avenged York-
town.

From the time the steamer enters the Gulf Stream
the weather is all that could be desired ; for the first
two days of the voyage the clothing worn aboard of
the vessel at New York is needed then middle weight
without overcoats; on reaching the islands the lightest
summer garments with shade hats or sun umbrellas

6 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

are a necessity for comfort, the mercury ranging at
808 or above.

The steamers stop long enough at each port to
allow one to see most of the sights, giving a very
satisfactory glimpse of each island ; the tourist how-
ever cannot take all the long excursions, the run
between the islands being made by night.

SANTA CRUZ.

At Santa Cruz or St. Croix (Danish, 19 by 5 miles ;
84 square miles area, 42,000 population) the ship
anchors \ mile from shore at West End, official name
Frederickstaed. Boats put off from shore and land
passengers for 25 cents each. The post office is to
the left on landing, a daily news cablegram is bullet-
ined here; the telegraph office is in the old fort, just
beyond. Cable rates by W. I. and Panama Tel. Co.
are very high throughout the islands ; rate within the
island is 20 cents. The currency is Danish West
Indian, reckoned by cents. American gold and silver
pass with little difficulty cent for cent. There are
no livery stables ; private parties however let their
carriages, buggies, and two-seated carriages, and
riding ponies can be had; the charge is eight dollars
or so for a double team across the island ; for shorter
trips in single buggies, a dollar or so an hour, or by
distance. Excellent meals to order and room accom-
modations are obtainable at Mrs. Du Bois. In the
town, (picturesque with yellow and pink arcaded
buildings and with the ruins from the insurrection of
the blacks, Oct. 1st, 1878) see the old fort, the
Roman Catholic church, the market, the shell heap
on the beach, the fishing boats with strange fishes
of brilliant color.

Opposite Mrs. Du Bois's the U. S. frigate Monon-
gahela, was left high and dry in the town, so it took 1 1
months to get her off, by the tidal wave 60 feet high
accompanying the earthquake of Nov. 18 1867.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 7

The drives to Mt. Victory, (returning by Annerley,
under tropical foliage with fine views, six miles
around), to the shell beaches at Butler's bay and Ham
Point, (four miles and return), and its neighboring
sugar plantations, are interesting. Across the island,
fifteen miles along a good road lined with cocoanut
and cabbage palms, is Bassin (Christianstaed), the
capital of the Danish West Indies, half way across is
the Carson's plantation. Bethlehem, probably so
called from an early Moravian settlement, is one of
the three vacuum-pan sugar factories of the island.
At Bassin, a picturesque Italian-looking town, see
the Governor-General's residence, with superb view
from stone terrace ; and if Mrs. Prentheny is tele-
gaphed to from West End, she will prepare a delight-
ful lunch or dinner. The best bay rum, guava jelly,
limes, the " peanut " shaped baskets from Tortola,
and calabashes, may be bought at this island. Eng-
lish is spoken here almost as much as Danish. The
present Frederickstaed is but the ruins of a much
more substantial town. During the uprising of the
blacks in 1878 the island was swept by incendiaries,
scarcely a building or a plantation being spared ;
many of the plantations are abandoned, and will in a
few years be covered with wood. The island is of
little use to Denmark. There are but two Danish
planters on the island, most of the planters are Eng-
lish, Scotch, American, and Irish. Danish authority
is represented by thirty-five soldiers in the fort.

About midnight the clank of the cable in the hawse
pipe announces the weighing of the anchor. Land is
hardly ever out of sight in this cruise among the
Caribbees, one island no sooner turns gray in the
distance than another reveals itself with a repetition
of the waving palms and volcanic mountains steeped
in every shade of green. The Caribbee Islands are
like stepping-stones cast into the sea. The English
apply the name, West Indies, to all the islands which

8 STARK 'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

separate the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea
and the gulf of Mexico, and divide the group known
as the Windward Islands into two lesser groups ;
naming the islands between Porto Rico and Martin-
ique, the Leeward, and those between Martinique and
the Orinoco, the Windward Islands. The archipel-
ago, thus subdivided, is also known as the Caribbee
Islands ; and by the Amerkans the whole group is
'called the "Windward Islands."

Leaving Santa Cruz, the ship after some hours
sights Saba (Dutch, 2j miles diameter, 2,820 feet
high, 2,000 population including two policemen) the
striking rock whose inhabitants reach their tiny vil-
lage by steps cut in the rocks and who build in " The
Bottom " of the crater boats which they let down by
ropes. Then she nears St.Eustatius,or Statia (Dutch,
4J by 2 miles, 1,950 feet high, 2,884 population) also evi-
dently a volcanic island, and presently approaches St.
Kitts with its great volcanic peak, Mt. Misery, 4,314
feet high, with an accessible crater 800 or more feet
deep, its crevices still emitting sulphur fumes. The
ship passes Sandy Point and Old Roads, between
which rises the curious Brimstone Hill, the Gibralter
of the West Indies, dismantled in 1851, which hill,
the natives say, was thrown bodily from the crater of
Mt. Misery.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS, 9

CHAPTER II.

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS.

St. Christopher's (English, 23 by 5 miles, 68
square miles area, 28,470 population) is reached at
Basseterre in twelve hours run, 128 miles, from West
End, Santa Cruz. The island was named by Colum-
bus in 1493, after his own patron saint. Numerous
boatmen ask one shilling each to go ashore, and take
less for parties. Landing at the Custom House wharf,
you reach a tiny "circus " or plaza with palms and
clock ; along the street to the left are the post office
and the hotel, and at the end the very interesting mar-
ket place. The street directly back from the water leads
to St. George's Church, (called the finest in the West
Indies), to the Moravian Church, and to out-lying
plantations. Mr. Lyons, the photographer, is near
this street. The street to the right brings one to
the really fine public garden, with its noble banyan
tree. Carriages are to be had at the livery stable at
moderate rates.

The currency is English money, which can be had
for 2os. 6d. or more to $5.00, at the bank at the cor-
ner of the circus. At each end of the town are Half-
moon Battery and Fashion Fort. Either Monkey Hill
or the ravine up the mountains beyond the Elosia
plantation affords an interesting walk. Captain Pog-
son is pleased to show his fine sugar estate at Old
Roads to travellers. The drives are, across to the

10 STAR 1C S HISTORY AND GUIDE

windward side of the island to Cayon, or south to
Frigate Bay, or north to Brimstone Hill ; but these
can be better reached from Sandy Point or Old
Roads, if the ship stops at either: there is a long
drive of thirty miles circling the greater part of the
island. The white peacock of St. Kitts may be seen
at Captain Rogers' near Old Roads, Mr. Wigley's
near Frigciie Bay, or at houses nearer town. Cocoa-
nuts, limes, cassava bread, and calabashes are to be
bought here.

Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts, is a town of
about sixteen hundred dwelling houses and seven
thousand inhabitants. Some of the dwelling houses
of Basseterre stand in the middle of gardens shut in
from view by high unsightly stone walls, after the cus-
tom prevailing in England, and which is provokingly
imitated in many West Indian town by those most
hospitable people in the world, the British West
Indians. The palms rear their graceful crowns high
overhead ; mangos, tamarinds, Ceibas and an endless
variety of beautiful tropical trees lift their branches
above the enclosures ; the broad leaves of bananas and
plantains wave like banners in the air ; here and
there flamboyant trees in full bloom, covered with
magenta blossoms, present a startling contrast to the
net work of green foliage that surrounds them.
Through gateways, sometimes through spaces left by
falling walls, one can occasionally catch glimpses in
these wonderful gardens of fruits and flowers, of ferns
in bewildering and beautiful variety, and of roses and
lilies, rare plants to be seen only in greenhouses of
grand domains or public gardens, at the North.

Nothing can exceed in loveliness and grandeur, the
views to be obtained from the road that runs from
Basseterre in a southeasterly direction as it climbs a
gentle ascent to the crest of the island, where the
Atlantic is to be seen stretching away as far as the eye
can reach. Thence the highway gradually descends

- Erjgraved For —

STARK'S HISTORY ANDGUIDE

BARBADOS AND

THE

ISLANDS

12 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

to the windward shore, and trends towards the north,
continuing along the east coast of St. Kitts, with the
ocean on one hand and the forest and mountains on
the other. Thus it completes the circuit of the island,
re-entering Basseterre from the north, on the western
or leeward shore.

From this road, at its highest elevation, can be
seen a plain, dotted with dark cool groves and great
sugar plantations, gardens of orange trees and flower-
ing shrubs. Picturesque planter's houses and negro
cabins, half hidden beneath the shade of palm and
evergreen trees, are scattered along the road or are
approached through lanes walled in by hedges of
prickly pear and tangled rows of bushes. From the
midst of them the agave,or sisal plant, shoots up here
and there, its pole crowned with flowers.

The two men to whom the English colonization of
America is chiefly due are Thomas Warner, the son
of a Suffolk yeoman and a John Winthrop of Groton, a
Suffolk Squire. ' These were the great leaders who
lured men from the Old to the New World, and
planted them in the latter by the hundreds and
thousands.

The first settlement by the English in the West
Indies was under the leadership of Thomas Warner,
who landed at Old Roads, St. Kitts, in January, 1623.
Barbados is sometimes mentioned as the oldest Eng-
lish settlement in the West Indies ; but this is an
error, as the first attempt to plant Barbados was
made by Sir William Courteen's party at the close of
1624, nearly two years after.

Englishmen who were venturesome enough to
make settlements in the West Indies in the early
part of the seventeenth century did so at their peril,
for the Spanish still continued the claim of an exclus-
ive right to the continent and islands of the New
World, which they had set up at the time of the
discovery, and which had been confirmed to them by

•

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 13

Papal Bull. The Spaniards had neglected to settle
on the smaller islands ; for the empire which Cortez
and Pizarro had conquered in Mexico and Peru, to-
gether with the islands of San Domingo, Jamaica,
and Cuba, had greater attraction for them than the
islands of the savage, man-eating Caribs

If the way was not clear for the English colonists
to settle in the West Indies, it had at all events been
found by many a hero who had fought against the
Armada, that the Caribbean Sea was a happy hunting-
ground for Spanish treasure ships. They resorted to
these islands from time to time for wood and water,
or as a mustering place.

The old methods of the treatment of the Indians by
the whites were again repeated at St. Kitts. The set-
tlers were welcomed by the Carib chief, Togreman,
as the Pilgrims were at Plymouth by Massasoit, three
years before, and the same result followed. Having
learned or imagined that the natives had prepared a
scheme for their destruction, the settlers fell upon
them and slew one hundred and twenty of their stout-
est men. Then, having selected a few of their come-
liest women for slaves, they drove the remainder of
the aboriginal population off the island: — this affair
took place in 1626. After a short interval the ban-
ished Caribs returned with reinforcements from dif-
ferent islands, in the belief that they could conquer
their enemy in fair battle. They estimated their
power too highly. A most sanguinary battle ensued,
the conflict being sharp and decisive. The settlers
lost upwards of one hundred soldiers, and the unfortu-
nate Caribs lost thousands. Henceforth the ancient
possessors of the island left the intruders in undis-
puted possession of it.

For some years no ship sailed from England with-
out emigrants to St. Kitts. The number of these
adventurers was so great, that, having fairly settled
the English district of St. Kitts, Warner began to

14 STARK 'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

settle Nevis in 1628, and Antigua and Montserrat
in 1632.

In 1625 Warner was granted a commission, to be
the "King's Lieutenant of the Caribbee Islands"
and during his visit to England he was knighted by
Charles I. in 1629.

In 1625 a French brigantine arrived at Kitts in a
crippled condition ; her commander, D'Esnambuc,
having gallantly engaged a Spanish war vessel of
greater strength. The English, having first driven
the warlike Caribs off the island, felt sure they would
return again to avenge themselves. Warner wel-
comed the French to make a settlement ; and they,
liking the idea, the island was divided between them,
the French settling at Basseterre and the English at
Sandy Point and Old Roads. For the prevention of
disputes, the island was divided between them ; when
on May 3, 1637 by the "Treaty of Partition," (with
the exception that they had equal rights to certain
common roads, and shared other privileges), the two
colonies were distinct communities. Each had its own
governor, parliament and army ; each had its own
laws ; and in some particulars the laws of one settle-
ment differed greatly from the laws of another. In
fact, the allied colonies were two distinct nations,
dangerously near, and it was not long before the
English bitterly repented of their former generosity.

This mutual distrust and jealousy often broke out
in war of the most bitter and vindictive kind. The
English were driven out by the French and Dutch
in 1665 and again in 1689; but eight months later
General Codrington gained a signal victory over the
French, and transported eighteen hundred of their
people to Martinique and Hispaniola. Again in 1705
the estates of the English planters were laid waste by
the French soldiers : but by the treaty of Utrecht, in
1713, the whole island was secured to Great Britain.

AND THE CAKfBBEE ISLANDS. 15

At the time of Sir Thomas Warner's death, in
1648, the English population of St. Kitts was esti-
mated at thirteen thousand. The astonishing success
of this colony was the source of fierce and vindictive
jealousy to France and Spain, and unamiable morti-
fication to the English settlers in Virginia and New
England, who saw themselves so greatly surpassed
by their countrymen on this .and the adjoining
islands.

Before the introduction of negro slavery into St.
Kitts, the planters were forced to depend upon white
servants for labor on the plantation. The supply
was obtained from two sources : indentured servants
who had sold their services for four years, and con-
victs who were sold for a term of eight years. The
settlements on the mainland obtained their servants
from the same sources. A recent publication, con-
taining letters from the first settlers of St. Kitts
throws much light on »this subject. One of the
writers says :* " For a taylor, a carpenter, a joynor,
a smith, which are the trades most necessary here,
I would allow to such a one, when a good workman,
a thousand pounds of sugar wages for each yeare that
he should serve me, with what must be paid for their
passages, tools or instruments. For one that can
handle his pen — he may deserve as much, but we
seldome give it because such men are plenty and
have other advantages. As for labourers and menial
servants, theire passages being payd, they must
expect only food, raiment and lodging, until theire
terme (which is never less than foure yeares) be
expired, and thereby the laws and customs of the
island they are to have four hundred pounds of sugar
to begin the world with. And if Newgate and Bride-
well should spew out their spawne into these
islands, it wonld meete with no lesse encouragement ;

*" A Young Squire Of the Seventeenth Century. From the papers of Christo-
pher Jefferson, i676,-i686." London, 1878.

16 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

for no goale-bird can be so incorrigable but there is
hope of his conformity here, as well as his prefer-
ment."

"I believe you may find Scotch and English that
would willingly change theire clymate upon the
aforementioned terms. Scotchmen and Welchmen
we esteeme the best servants, and the Irish the
worst, many of them good for nothing but mischief."

The planters were under ;£ioo bonds for the safe
delivery and custody of each convict for eight years.
The following interesting description of a shipment
of them is from the same source : " Upon Easter
Eve I went to Newgate to receive the malefactors.
So we had delivered to us thirty-eight prisoners, viz.,
twenty-nine men (most of them sturdy and rugged
fellows), and nine women (likely to make good serv-
ants.) There are about seven of them which have
followed sea-affairs, and will make Captain Foster
watchful in the voyage, and. the masters of the shal-
lops careful of their boats when they are upon the
island. Captain Foster will inform your Honor of
their names, but if he should talk of it on the island
it might hinder the sale of them, for nobody, I sup-
pose, will be desirous to buy a servant that has that
convenience of freeing himself by the first boat he
can steal. John Walker says he is a shoemaker.
Silvan Morris was a soldier, condemned for killing
his comrade,Henry List is a weaver, Francis Abrams
is a cook. These, with the mariners, are all the men
with professions I know. But Captain Foster may
discover more of their good qualities on the voyage.
But they certainly are a parcel of as notorious vil-
laines as any transported this long tyme. As they
went down to the water side, notwithstanding a
guard of thirty men, they committed several thefts,
snatching away hats, perrewigs, etc., from several
persons whose curiosity led them into the crowd.
They were all searched when they came aboard, but

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 17

what the captaine found about them he best knows."
The name of Sir Thomas Warner, the first gov
ernor of the Caribbee Islands stands forth the most
prominently of any in West Indian history. His
descendants in the twelfth generation continue to
flourish in the West Indies, where the old English
family has made itself a home for more than two
hundred and seventy years. He lies buried in St.
Thomas' churchyard in St. Kitts. No public monu-
ment has been erected, and what is legible is on a
shattered tombstone. The neglected condition of
his grave reflects the utmost discredit upon the
inhabitants of St. Kitts.

CHAPTER III.

NEVIS, ANTIGUA AND MONTSERRAT.

Nevis (English, 7 by 6 miles, 37 square miles area,
highest land Ben Nevis 3,596 feet, 11,000 population,
mostly black) almost adjoins St. Kitts ; the ship in
ij hours (15 miles) from Basseterre, reaches the
Roads of Charlestown, anchoring a mile from shore.
There are a few boats that take passengers ashore
for a shilling each. The town everywhere shows
signs of past greatness, and the island is studded with
ruins of noble country-houses. The white popula-
tion at one time amounted to 4,000 ; now there are
scarcely 100. Once the total population was 20,000;
now it is 12,000, including a few hundred coolies.
As you go from the wharf, the road to the left leads
to St. Paul's Church and school ; that to the right,
passes a tiny square, the post office, and a hotel.
About a third of a mile out is a fine sulphur bath and
the superb ruins of a great stone edifice, (built in 1803
for a hotel at a cost of ,£40,000, and sold a few years
since for .£40), with fine views from its terraces.

To this grand establishment used to resort a gay
company of pleasure seekers and such as desired to
make trial of the healing waters which boil up in the
midst of the garden. Long ago in its palmy days,
Nevis was the Bath and Saratoga of the Caribbees,
and to it annually came the youth and beauty,
the crabbed and gouty old age, and the wealth and
fashion of the West Indian world. In those days

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 19

sugar was king ; his courtiers, the planters, derived
the income of princes from grand estates. Nevis was
also one of the principal slave marts of the Wind-
ward Islands, and consequently before the days of
emancipation and beet sugar there was abundant
wealth and luxury, and a high degree of magnificence
at the court of King Sugar whose summer palace the
old ruin used to be.

The hotel, squarely and solidly built, two hundred
feet in length by one hundred in width and several
stories high, was surrounded on each floor by ver-
andas. The ceilings were more than twenty feet in
height, and the chambers of grand proportions ;
a wide hall opened through the middle of it, and flights
of easy stairs led from story to story. The glory of
it has departed, its verandas have fallen, its windows
and casements have been long since used for fire-
wood, the stairs are broken, the roof admits the rain
in many an opening chink, it is a picture of desola-
tion and decay — one's footsteps echo dismally through
the empty habitation. Here was the ball room, here
the dining hall, and that old tumble-down out build-
ing the kitchen. Down the bank in front of the
main structure had been an Italian garden, with its
rose and flower beds, its ferneries and stucco stat-
uary ; yonder is the dry and cracked basin of what
was once a pond swarming with gold fish. Near the
wine cellar are the ruins of a turtle crawl ; at the
side door is a moss grown-stone block where the
young ladies mounted their ponies and gaily rode
away. Down in the ravine through which flows the
little stream concealed in a thicket of tamarind and
mango trees is the bath house, a substantial building
two stories in height and still in a good state of
preservation. The upper floor is a toilet room clean
but bare of furniture ; in the lower story is the hot
bath, a great tank twenty by thirty feet in size, filled
with crystal clear water of a temperature of about

20 5 TA KJCS HIS TORY AND G UIDE

100 degrees Fahrenheit. Here on paying a small
fee to the attendant the visitor partakes of one of
the greatest luxuries to be had in the West Indies.
The water is soft and soothing in its effect, warm
enough to cause one to set foot in gingerly. It holds
in solution a little sulphur, possessing a property that
renders the use of soap unnecessary, and is very
mollifying to the skin. It is said to be good for
rheumatism, gouty complaints and cutaneous dis-
orders, and is used with great benefit by a few visitors.

About two miles from the town on the left-hand
side of the road as you go up the mountain, is the
church in which it is incorrectly stated that Admiral
Nelson married the widow of Dr. Nisbet, the daughter
of Mr. Herbert the President of the island. As a
matter of fact, Admiral Nelson was married very
quietly, not to say privately, in a house a short distance
from the church on March n, 1807.

Nevis is the birth-place of one of the greatest men
of the Revolution ; whom John Marshall ranks next
to Washington, as having rendered more conspicuous
service to the United States than any other man of
his period. A great orator, a talented lawyer, a good
soldier, " master of every field he entered," the ablest
political teacher of his day, Alexander Hamilton was
the deviser and establisher of the government of the
United States; the precocious youth who framed the
Constitution, who urged and secured its adoption by
the original States at a time when but a rope of sand
bound them together. He lived long enough to see the
nation to which he gave political stability submitting
itself in entire respect and confidence to the declara-
tions contained in the most remarkable document
ever written, which, had it not been for his study
and foreknowledge, would have taxed the skill of the
wisest of all his contemporaries to formulate. Be-
yond question this native of Nevis was one of the
greatest men who ever saw the light in the western

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 21

hemisphere. What man ever addressed himself to a
grander labor than the inventing of a form of govern-
ment for an already great nation? What man ever
brought to his self imposed task greater abilities and
more remarkable talents? Is it any wonder then,
that when Americans set foot on the shores of Nevis
they are inspired with feelings of reverence. Alex-
ander Hamilton was born of Scottish parentage on
this island on January n, 1757. His father died
while he was yet a child; his mother did not long sur-
vive her husband, leaving her boy an orphan in indigent
circumstances. In 1772 he bade a final adieu to
Nevis and sailed for Boston where he arrived in
October, thence he went to New York, where in his
sixteenth year he entered King's, now Columbia,
college. On the breaking out of the American re-
bellion he recruited a company of artillery under a
commission from the State of New York; and in less
than five years after his arrival in America he was a
lieutenant-colonel on Washington's staff, being then
only in his twentieth year. There is no need here to
follow the career of this remarkable man up to the
time of his untimely death at the hands of Aaron Burr.
The honor and renown which attach to his name are
as enduring as the grand mountain of his native
island.

ANTIGUA.

'Antigua, (English, 13 by 9 miles, highest land
1339 feet, 108 square miles area, 35,000 population)
is reached in four hours run, 40 miles from Nevis or
St. Kitts, whence it can be seen. The ship pass-
ing Sandy Island Light, comes to anchor more than
two miles from the city of St. John's, whose harbor is
barred by a coral reef only fifteen feet under water.
Boatmen charge from 2 to 35. each to shore and

22 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

return, a government steam launch sometimes takes
passengers at 45. the round trip, or 35. single journey.
To the north of this fine harbor are the spacious leper
and insane hospitals; aside from leprosy, this island is
reputed the healthiest in the West Indies. The
boats land at a quay to the left of which is the market.
The chief sight is the fine English cathedral, rebuilt
in 1845 on the high ground at the back of the town,
at a cost of .£40,000. It has double walls as a pre-
vention against earthquakes, and two fine towers from
which a fine view is had. Near by are the Exhibition
Gardens, now used for tennis courts, the Episcopal
residence of the Bishop of the Leeward Islands, Rt.
Rev. C. H. Branch, and the church college. The post
office is on the main street, with public library over-
head. Dr. Edwards and others have private gardens.
The hotels are the Scotia, Globe, and Albion. Car-
riages are scarce and expensive, the favorite drive is
down the Valley Road to the south.

The Caribbee Islands are divided into two distinct
classes, the mountainous, to which St. Kitts, Nevis
and Dominica belong, with their grand summits soar-
ing heavenward, of volcanic formation •; and Auguilla,
Barbuda, Antigua and Barbados, which are largely of
coral formation, comparatively low, undulating and
flat. All the other Caribbees, with the exception
of these four, rise from the ocean in steep acclivities
and precipices, rent by gloomy chasms, divided by
valleys, most of them hiding their tops in cloudland,
whence they draw down super-abundant moisture
which might well be spared to refresh the sunny parch-
ing plains of the coral-islands. Antigua was long ago
entirely denuded of primeval forests; the centre of the
island is low and flat, is exceedingly fertile, the ver-
dant meadows and savannahs alternate with cultivated
cane pieces. This low land contains petrified forests
consisting of nearly every variety of wood now grow-
ing on the Caribbee Islands. A short distance from

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 23

town is a valley of petrifaction ; here may be obtained
very beautiful specimens of cedar, palm, mangrove, etc.
etc., completely silicified with veins of chalcedony
and agate.

The coast of Antigua is indented by shallow coves
and land locked bays of which English Harbor is the
most beautiful.

Antigua was discoved by Columbus, who, after
giving it its name, deserted the island. It was unex-
plored until Charles I, of England, granted it to the
Earl of Carlisle. Sir Thomas Warner, the Governor of
St. Kitts, colonized Antigua in 1632 and for eight
years the colony prospered. Then it had the same ill
fortune that befell the New England colonies at the
same period and through the same causes. On account
of the ill treatment of the natives on the neighboring
island, the Caribs came in their war canoes and made
great slaughter of the settlers, carrying off in their
retreat many women and children, among them the
wife and baby of the governor. It is useless to depict
the wrath and despair of the husband, nor the details
of the pursuit he at once organized ; it is stated
that he sought her out, traced her to the Carib retreat,
a cave up in the mountains of Domnica, by fragments
of clothing torn from her by cruel thorns, and event-
ually succeeded in returning with her. She had been
weeks in captivity, but had been well treated. Dur-
ing the century and a half of almost incessant war
between England and France, Antigua was often
attacked by the Caribs, who were stirred up to war by
the French in Martinique, in the same manner as
their countrymen did in Canada, when they incited
the Indians to hostility against the English. While
John Winthrop of Groton Hall, England, the first
governor of Massachusetts, was defending his colony
against the French and Indians from Canada, his son
Captain Samuel Winthrop, (the brother of Colonel
Stephen Winthrop of the Parliamentary Army, also

24 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

brother of John Winthrop who founded the city of
New London,) was defending his plantation in An-
tigua from the attacks of the French and Caribs.
The Carib war raged for many years and with relent-
less fury, as can be learned in the following incident
narrated by Dampier, the famous buccaneer, who
often visited these islands in his adventurous career.
He says :

" The Caribbees had done some spoil in our Eng-
lish plantation in Antigua, and therefore, Governor
Warner's son, by his wife,* took a party of men and
went to suppress the Indians, and came to a place
where his brother, Indian Warnerjived. Great seem-
ing joy was there at the meeting,but how far real the
event showed, for the English Warner, providing
plenty of liquor and inviting his half-brother to be
merry with him, in the midst of the entertainment
ordered his men when a signal was given to murder
him and all his indians, which was accordingly per-
formed." Philip Warner was tried for the murder of
his half-brother, but was acquitted and had his lands
returned to him, and was restored to the honors of the
governorship.

What a similarity there is between this massacre
of the Indians and one that occurred in Boston Har-
bor about the same time. " After an interview with
their chief Pecksnot, Myles Standish made plans to
treacherously get all the Indians he could into his
power and then to kill them in cold blood. He ac-
cordingly invited them to meet him the next d iy in-
side of the stockade, which the Indians did, not
suspecting treachery. Two of the chiefs, Pecksnot
and Whituwamut, and two other of the principal
Indians met Standish and several of his men in a
room where they had a talk. Suddenly Standish gave
a signal and flung himself on Pecksnot, snatching his
knife from his sheath on his neck and stabbing him

*Probably the same as was taken captive by the Incians.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 25

with it. The door was closed and a life and death
struggle ensued ; finally all the indians were killed
that were in the stockade except a youth of eighteen
whom Standish subsequently hung. Standish and
his party then returned carrying with them the head
of Whituwamut to ornament the Plymouth Block
House as a terror to the Indians."*

MONTSERRAT.

Montserrat (English, 9 by 6 miles ; 35 square miles
area, highest land 3,002 feet, 9,000 population) is
reached after a run of 3 hours (30 miles) from Antigua
to the port of Plymouth. The ship anchors a third
of a mile out; boats charge a shilling or sixpence to
shore. The town is fairly picturesque, but small..
The post office is to the left of the landing; good
meals can be had at the Scotia and Albion hotels.
No carriages are to be had, but riding ponies can be
obtained. The road to the south, with good shore
views, leads to the reservoir; that to the north, to St.
John's church, just out of the village; and four miles
beyond are the great lime estates and factory of the
Montserrat Company, limes being the special product
of this island. The road direct back from the town
leads to sugar factories, and to a gap in the near hills
which can be ascended by foot path or with ponies ; on
St. George's hill are the ruins of old Fort George,
from which there is a superb view of the harbor. The
population of the .island is chiefly Negro-Irish, the
island having been settled originally by "wild Irish" ;
by which name the native Irish was formerly known
in order to distinguish them from the English and
Scotch settlers in Ireland. It is not surprising there-
fore that the descendants of the slaves that belonged
to the Irish settlers all have Irish names and speak

*Longfello\v, in his " Courtship of Myles Stancmh." has taken advantage of the
poet's Iicens2 to glorify Standish for the part he took in this murderous outrage.

•20 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

a jargon of Irish, English and African, in which the
brogue predominates ; they are particularly noted for
their blarney, especially when they are offering their
wares, or begging, in which they are adepts.

The island of Montserrat is considered very
healthy, the daily average of the temperature is 80°,
and the average of the thermometer for the year; from
72° to 85° Fahrenheit; but the heat is never oppres-
sive even in the summer months.

The principal town is Plymouth, and on your right
hand, as you enter the town, is a small fortification,
now crumbling to ruin, which adds to the picturesque
appearance of the approach to Plymouth from the sea.
The surface of Montserrat is very rugged, and the
soil is not very fertile except in cer.tain spots ; its wind-
ward side is bold, of a wild and barren aspect, while
the leeward side slopes gently towards the sea, being
laid out in plantations of lime and lemon orchards.
There are between ten and twelve thousand acres now
under cultivation. The highest peak, La Soufriere, at
the south end of Montserrat, is over three thousand feet
in height. Centre Hill rises two thousand four hun-
dred and fifty feet in the middle of the island, and
Silver Hill, in the north, towers nearly one thousand
three hundred feet above the sea.

The island was discovered by Columbus on Sunday,
November 10, 1493 ; he named it Montserrat because
he fancied it bore a resemblance to a mountain of that
name in Spain.

The white population is decreasing, being less than
one hundred. The total exports from the island
amount to ,£32,000, and the imports are ,£25,000,
mostly from Great Britain and Canada.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 27

CHAPTER IV.

GUADELOUPE AND DOMINICA.

Guadeloupe (French) contains a population of
157,000, and an area of 534 square miles : is reached
in four hours run from Montserrat, from which it is
distant about forty miles.

It was discovered by Columbus and named by him
Guadeloupe, he having promised the monks of "Our
Lady of Guadeloupe " to name some newly discovered
place after their convent. Landing here on the 4th
of November, 1493, he visited a village near the shore,
the inhabitants of which fled in affright, leaving their
children behind in their terror and confusion. It was
the first island in which Columbus saw the warlike
Caribs, of whom he had heard so much in Hispaniola.
The account he gives of their neat villages, of the
finding here of the fragment of a vessel, and of the
first pine-apple, is extremely interesting.

Guadeloupe is separated into two islands, one of
volcanic origin, uneven and mountainous, the other,
flat and low without even a hill; it is divided by a
shallow salt water passage called the Riviere Salee.
The banks of this creek are lined with mangroves,
and it is one of the hottest places in the West Indies.
Point a Pitre is situated at the southern mouth of this
salt water river. The town is regularly built with
broad, straight streets, with a fountain in the centre
of the market place ; it contains a fine cathedral and
many good stores and houses. Here is the second

28 STARK >S HISTORY AND GUIDE

largest sugar factory in the world, the one in Egypt
only, excelling it in size. The city having been de-
stroyed several times by earthquakes and fire, this
resulted in the present system of construction of
buildings with strong, iron frames filled with brick or
composite.

Basseterre is the seat of government of Guadeloupe,
as Fort de France is that of Martinique ; it was
chosen by these shrewd Frenchmen as a depot of
government property, that other towns like that of
Point a Pitre and St. Pierre of Martinique, may not,
by their superior advantage for commerce and trade,
draw all the population thither.

The government buildings are in the upper part of
the town, between two rivers, behind a large stone
fort. They surround three sides of a square bordered
by mighty palms, with an elegant fountain of bronze
as a center piece. North and east of the town tower
the mountains, the land commencing to rise to their
summits at its very outskirts, the upper streets lead
into the hills. The houses are built of stone but are
•not large or pretentious. In the center of the town
is an open market place, in which is a fountain fed
from the mountains, around which is a row of tama-
rind trees.

The cathedral, or Basilique, is an old structure, built
of stone, dating from the time of Le Pere Labat, the
founder of this town, whose valuable book on the
Antilles published in Paris in 1722, contains the most
comprehensive account of these islands previous to
that date. The old Basilique remains, in defiance of
earthquakes and hurricanes, a monument of his
activity and zeal ; its front, however, was rebuilt a few
years ago. In 1703 he founded the town of Basse-
terre, and took an active part in the defence of the
island against the attack of the English in March of
the same year. The " Bellicose Pere Blanc" as he
was called by the people of the island could not pre-
vent his monastery from being burned by the enemy,

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 29

by which disaster his valuable collection of books,
manuscripts and instruments was lost.

Beyond the government buildings is the Convent of
Versailles, where the girls of the island are educated;
and higher up, occupying a broad plateau, some fifteen
hundred feet above the sea, is the summer camp of
the governor and troops. Spacious buildings, includ-
ing a hospital, barracks and governor's house, are
almost hidden by trees, among which the palm tower
conspicuous, with its gray column and green coronet.

Guadeloupe contains one of the largest and most
active volcanos in the West Indies. The Soufriere,
as the French call it, is over five thousand feet above
the sea. A recent writer* who made the ascent, de-
scribes it as follows :

" Beyond the limits of the coffee groves we came
upon the borders of the high-woods, where one must
go to see the vegetation of the tropics in its greatest
growth and luxurience. As you set foot over the
sharply defined line of demarkation, you leave the
sun with his scorching beams behind, and enter a
gloomy arch beneath a canopy of leaves. The trail is
sinuous and slippery, overhead is a leafy vault through
which the sun cannot send a gleam, save now and
then a needle ray, and through this vaulted roof are
thrust up the trunks of mighty trees with a diameter
from buttress to buttress, of twenty feet. No sound
broke the solemn stillness of this mountain forest save
the cooing of a distant wood pigeon, and nothing
showed itself except an occasional mountain part-
ridge as it flitted like a ghost across our path. Up
and higher we ascended, the trees diminished in size,
and there came to our ears the sound of falling waters.
The wild plantain with broad green leaves and spikes
of crimson and golden cups now lined the trail, and
glorious tree ferns in majesty of beauty unsurpassed,
spread their leaves above them. We reached the

*Camp in the Caribbees, by Fred A. Ober, Boston, 1886.

30 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

stream, and found it warm, so hot that vapor arose on
this not too cool atmosphere, it was also sulphur im-
pregnated. The luxurience of the vegetation here
was marvelous and pen of mine cannot describe the
beauty* of the ferns, orchids and parasites, arches and
bridges of tropical trees and ferns that overhung and
spanned the torpid stream. Here we plunged anew
into a depth of greenwood and commenced an ascent
that for steepness left all former paths behind. We
had to lift ourselves up by successive broad steps and
cling to roots and trees for aid. Emerging from the
darkness of this tunnel-like passage, we came upon
another zone of vegetation where the trees were
dwarfed to shrubs, and so interwined and matted to-
gether that a path had to be cut with the cutlass.
We found this path washed into deep cistern-like cav-
ities down which we descended on one side only to
climb out at the other. Emerging upon a small plain,
we looked up and saw the cone whose side we fain
would climb, the path so steep, it seemed impossible
to ascend it. There was no vegetation now to ob-
struct the view.' For an hour and a half, with many
stops for breath, we mounted upwards, then my tac-
turn guide pointed out a narrow ledge where a man
died of exhaustion, and was found at midnight by my
informant who was in search of him, on his knees
with his face covered with his hands.

We followed the narrow path over sounding rocks
that told of caverns beneath, and reached a dark
chasm so deep that we could not see the bottom of
the dark abyss until we stood upon a narrow bridge of
rock that spanned the central space. After crossing
the bridge we scaled the opposite cliff and were
greeted at the top with loud blasts and snorts like
those of a high pressure steamer, and volumes of
vapor thrown in our faces. Following this. I found
an aperture in a mound of stone sulphur lined, through,
which was forced a column of steam with noises so

ISLANDS. 31

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 31

loud that we could not hear each other speak. This
aperture is in the center of a desolate area having on
its borders numerous openings whence issue blasts of
hot air that taint the atmosphere for many feet around.
I peered into one, arched like an oven, and it was like
a glimpse into the arcana of nature, for the whole in-
terior was encrusted with sulphur crystals, glistening
like yellow topaz and a small black passage led down
into unknown depths, whence issued rumblings,
groans and grumblings. Up from this black throat
came such blasts of old Vulcan's fetid breath, that I
was glad to escape with only a few crumbling crystals
for my pains. Ravines seam the sides of the cone in
every direction, some spanned by natural bridges of
rock. That by which we entered was the central
gorge, with its wicked looking throat from whence
there has been two eruptions recorded, one in 1797,
the other in 1815. Doubtless it will again at some
future time act as the vent for the internal ebulitions
of mother earth."

On leaving Guadeloupe for Dominica, the coast is
seen in all its grandeur of lofty cliffs, towering moun-
tains, curving bays and palm-bordered beaches.

DOMINICA.

Dominica, (English) 29 by 16 miles; highest land,
Mount Diablotin, 5,314 feet, the highest mountain in
the Caribbean Archipelago. Dominica has a coast
line of over 100 miles, and is distant from Martinique
about 30 miles. Number of inhabitants, 30,000 : lan-
guage, a mixture of French and English.

There are no wheeled vehicles on the island, but
ponies can be procured at a moderate price at Roseau,
the principal town of the island; visitors should by all
means avail themselves of a ride up the mountains.
Follow the street which leads past the jail, over an

32 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

excellent bridge, passing under the white cliffs of St.
Aromant, following the Roseau River which flows
through a beautiful valley covered with banana, citron
and lime groves to the very base of the mountain,
then up, higher and higher, the path growing rocky
and slippery, past the lovely valley Shawford. When
a mile above, you enter a deep ravine where arje the
first perfect tree-ferns on the trail ; the gorge is filled
with them, and the banks along the path are Dvered
with smaller ones, infinitely beautiful. Here for the
first time also can be heard the melody of the
"solitaire."

Away up among the mountains, in the interior of
the island, is the Boiling Lake, over two thousand feet
above sea level ; it is one of the principal wonders of
the Caribbees, and has been visited by very few white
men. The lake is sunk in a huge basin, the surround-
ing walls being about one hundred feet in height, and
the diameter of the lake about four hundred feet. It
is usually in a wild fury of ebulition, and the basin
filled with steam from the internal fires below, the
water frequently being at a temperature of from one
hundred and eighty to one hundred and ninety-six
degrees of temperature. No bottom has been found
at ten feet from the edge, with two hundred feet of line.

The Soufriere is in a valley of desolation, contain-
ing many boiling springs and pools ; it is almost im-
possible to describe this valley and wonderful Boiling
Lake, hid in the bosom of these solitary mountains
in this tropical island. The time may come when the
great attractions of these islands will be better known,
.and this locality be frequented by those afflicted with
rheumatism and kindred complaints ; such unfortu-
nates would no doubt derive great benefits from a
bath in these healing waters.

Dominica was discovered by Columbus on Sunday,
.November 3, 1493, on his second voyage, who named
it in honor of the Lord's day.

34 STARK 'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Of all the West Indian Islands, Dominica is the
most interesting to strangers. It is the most beauti-
ful of the Antilles, and the least known. A few
Caribs, the last of their race, with the exception of a
remnant at St. Vincent, still linger in the forest, retain-
ing their old look and habits; they are skillful fishermen,
canoe and basket makers. Their home is in the least
explored mountain retreats and gloomiest valleys,
forming a reservation of a thousand acres, extending
a distance of about three miles along the Atlantic
coast, and back into the mountains as far as
they please to cultivate. They seldom come to the
settlement, and have as little as possible to do with
the whites or negroes. For hundreds of years after
the coming of Columbus, the Caribs successfully re-
sisted all attempts at invasion, and were only after
ages deprived of their inheritance. Inch by inch, and
foot by foot, the Caribs struggled for liberty in their
mad fight for existence.

The Caribs originally inhabited all the islands ex-
tending from the coast of South America as far north
as Santa Cruz ; Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Porto Rico
were inhabited by a more peaceful and gentle race.
The followers of Columbus murdered more than a
million of these happy islanders, but they always
evaded encounter with the "Pagan Cannibals." Thus
to the prowess of their ancestors are the Caribs of the
present day indebted for their existence, while not a
vestige remains of the more numerous but peaceful
tribes to the north of them.

Though Dominica is the most mountainous of all
the Antilles, it is split into many valleys of exquisite
fertility, Through each there runs a full and ample
river, swarming with fish, and yielding water-power
enough to drive all the mills which industry could
build. In these valleys, and on the rich levels along
the shore, the French had once their cane fields, and
orange, pineapple and indigo plantations.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARJBBEE ISLANDS. 35

Viewed from the sea, Dominica has a singularly
bold and magnificant appearance. A dark irregular
mass of lofty mountains rises abruptly from the ocean,
as if suddenly upheaved from the deep by some
mighty convulsion of nature. The rugged grandeur
of the island is softened, on a nearer approach, by the
mantle of green that everywhere covers its surface,
from the sea margin to the tops of the highest moun-
tain. The mountains are in full sight from Guade-
loupe, from which it is distant about thirty miles. It
contains more obstacles to travel, to the square mile,
than any other island of similar size in the West Indies.
Well did Columbus illustrate its crumpled and uneven
surface, when in answer to his Queen's inquiry re-
garding its appearance, he crushed a sheet of paper
in his hand and threw it upon the table.

Roseau, the principal town, stands midway of
the western shore. The roadstead is open ; but as the
prevailing winds are from the northwest, the island
forms a very good breakwater: and except on rare occa-
sions, there is neither surf nor swell there. The land
shelving off rapidly, a cable length from shore there is
no soundings. The coasting vessels and^ steamers
anchor close under the rocks, or alongside one of the
jetties which are built out from the beach upon piles.

The situation of Roseau is exceedingly beautiful ;
looking eastward, one can see. far into the Roseau
Valley, to the wall of mountains from which dashes
out a great waterfall, dwindled to a mere thread in
the distance. The Roseau River emerges in a
plain beneath a valley filled with cane, containing in
its centre a planter's house and buildings surrounded
with palms. It dashes over its rocky bed with a roar,
and runs at the foot of a high white cliff across
another plantation into the sea near the town.

The streets of Roseau are straight, paved with
rough stones, but never echo to the rumble of wheels.
They cross at right angles and dwindle down to three

36 STARA'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

bridle-paths leading out of the town ; two respectively
north and south along the coast, and one, narrow and
tortuous, over the mountains to the eastward. The
houses are mostly of one story boxes of wood, with
bonnet-roofs sixteen by twenty feet, many in a state
of decay. Every street however is picturesque through
its rough style of architecture, and cocoa-palms
lining and terminating the vistas. The town is green
with fruit trees ; and over broken roofs and garden
walls of roughest masonry, hang many strange fruits.

From the mountains flow the "Sweet River,"
containing the purest of water, led in pipes through
all the streets, and gushing out in never ceasing flow
from the sea wall on the shore. The market, near
the south end of the town, (a small square surrounded
by stores) is the centre of attraction on Saturdays,
when it is densely packed with country people, black
and yellow, some of them from points a dozen miles
away, each with his bunch of plantains or tray of
bread-fruit. All are chattering so that there is a
babel of sounds.

Near the market is the fort, a low, stone structure,
pierced with loop-holes, commanding from its high
position the roadstead. Near the fort is the English
Church, with a clock in its face, and four magnificent
palms to guard its entrance. At a little distance can
be seen the towers of the French Catholic Cathedral.
Adjoining is the government house, in a garden of
flowers ; and near, the court house, of stone, yellow
and low. Opposite, on a bluff overlooking the sea,
is the public garden, neatly enclosed and tastefully
ornamented, containing a few large trees, many roses,
humming birds, butterflies, and a grand view of the sea.

The road leads by a broad, green savannah, near
which is a ruined cemetery, down between long rows
of lowly cabins, its bed green and grassy within a
stone's throw of the surf on the pebbly beach. White
Negro villages gleam among the palms along shore,

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 37

and wooded mountains rise immediately above them.
The old fort seems an attractive, innocent, sunny
sort of place for one to spend his time in ; but to
the observer of this calm scene, it is not easy to
realize the desperate battles which have been fought
for the posession of it, nor to picture the gallant lives
that have been laid down under the walls of this
crumbling castle. These cliffs had echoed the roar of
Rodney's guns on the day which saved the British
Empire, and the island on which we are gazing was
England's Gettysburg.

When England's thirteen American colonies re-
volted, the whole world combined to crush her.
France, Spain and Holland, her three ocean rivals,
determined to tear her West Indian possession from
her. The opportunity was seized by the Irish patriots
to clamor for Irish nationality, and by the English
Radicals to demand liberty and the rights of man.
It was the most critical period in later English his-
tory : if she had yielded to peace on the terms which
her enemies offered her, and the English Liberals
wished to accept, the star of Great Britain would have
set forever.

The West Indies were then under Rodney, whose
brilliant successes had already made his name famous.
He had done his country more than yeoman's service,
for he had torn the Leeward Islands from the French,
and had punished the Hollanders for joining the
coalition, by taking the island of St. Eustatius and
three million's worth of stores and money.

The patriot party in England, led by Fox and Burke,
were ill pleased with these victories, for they wished
to be driven into surrender. Burke denounced Rod-
ney as he had Warren Hastings, and Rodney was
called home to answer for himself. In his absence,
Demerara, the Leeward Islands and Eustatius, were
captured by the enemy. The French fleet, now su-
preme in these waters, blockaded Lord Cornwallis at

38 ' STARR'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Yorktown, and caused his surrender, thereby ending
the American war.

The Spaniards had fitted out a fleet at Havana,
and the Count de Grasse, the French Admiral, fresh
from his victory at Yorktown, hastened back to re-
furnish himself at Martinique, intending to join the
Spaniards, capture Jamaica, and drive the English
out of the West Indies. One chance remained : Rod-
ney was ordered back to his station, and he went at
his best speed, taking all the ships with him. The
Whig orators were indignant. They insisted that
England was beaten, that there had been bloodshed
enough, and that peace must be obtained at any
price. The Government yielded, and a pre-emptory
order followed on Rodney's track. ''Strike your flag
and come home." Had that fatal command reached
him, Gibralter would have fallen, and Hastings' Indian
Empire would have melted into thin air. But Rod-
ney knew his time was short. Gibralter was relieved
after a three year's siege; and before the order reached
him, the severest naval battle in English annals had
been fought and won under these cliffs. De Grasse
was a prisoner, and the French fleet was scattered
into wreck and ruin.

De Grasse had refitted in the Martinique dock-
yards. He himself, and every officer in the fleet was
confident that England was overcome, and that noth-
ing was left but to gather the fruits of the victory
which was theirs already. All the Antilles, except
St. Lucia, were his own. There, alone, the English
flag still flew, as Rodney lay in the harbor of Cas-
tries. On April 8, 1782, the signal came, from the
north end of the island, that the French fleet had
sailed and was becalmed under the high lands of
Dominica. Rodney had been waiting, day by day,
for this welcome sign; now the enemy was out at last
he instantly got under way and followed. In number

40 STA RK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

of ships, the fleets were equal; in size and comple-
ment of crew, the French were immensely superior;
moreover, they had twenty thousand soldiers on board
to be used in the conquest of Jamaica. Knowing
well that a defeat at that moment would be to Eng-
land irreparable ruin, they did not dream that Rod-
ney would be allowed, even if he wished it, to risk a
close and desisive engagement. The English admiral
was aware, also, that his country's fate was in his
hands. It was one of those supreme moments which
great men dare to use and weak men tremble at.

A breeze, at last, came off the land; the French
were the first to feel it, and were able to attack at ad-
vantage the leading English division; they kept at a
distance firing long shots, which, however, did con-
siderable damage.

The two following days the fleets manoeuvered in
sight of each other; on the night of the eleventh,
Rodney made signal for the whole fleet to go south
under press of sail, the French thinking he was
flying. He tacked at two in the morning and at day-
break found himself where he wished to be, with the
French fleet on his lee quarter, in the channel which
separates Guadaloupe from Dominica. At seven in
the morning, April 12, 1782, the signal to engage
was flying at the masthead of the •' Formidable,"
Rodney's flag ship. The admiral led in person: hav-
ing passed through and broken up their order, he
tacked again, still keeping the wind. The French,
thrown into confusion, were unable to re-form, and the
battle resolved itself into a number of separate en-
gagements, in which the English had the choice of
position.

Rodney in passing through the enemy's lines the
first time, had exchanged broadsides with the Glorieux,
a seventy^our, at close range. He shot away her
masts and bowsprit, and left her a bare hull ; as her
flag was still flying, being nailed to a splintered spar,

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR IB BEE ISLANDS. 41

so he left her unable at least to get away. After he
had gone about he came yard arm to yard arm with
the superb "Ville de Paris," the pride of France, and
the largest ship in the world, on which DeGrasse
commanded in person. All day long the cannon
roared, and one by one the French ships struck their
flags or fought on till they sunk. The carnage on
board them was terrible, crowded as they were with
troops for Jamaica. Fourteen thousand were reckoned
as killed besides the prisoners. The "Ville de Paris"
surrendered last, fighting desperately after all hope
was gone, till her masts were so shattered that they
could not bear a sail, and her decks above and below
were littered over with mangled limbs and bodies.
DeGrasse gave up his sword to Rodney on the For-
midable's quarter deck. The Glorieux, unable to fly
and seeing the battle lost, hauled down her flag, but
not till the undisabled remnants of her crew
were too few to throw the dead into the sea.
Other ships took fire and blew up. Half of the
French fleet were either taken or sunk; the rest
crawled away for the time, most of them to be
picked up afterwards like crippled birds. So on
that memorable day was the English Empire saved.
Peace followed, but it was peace with honor. The
American Colonies were lost; but England kept her
West Indies, her flag still floated over Gibralter.
The hostile strength of Europe all combined had failed
to wrest Britannia's ocean sceptre from her; she sat
down maimed and bleeding, but the wreath had not
been torn from her brows, she was, and still is, sov-
ereign of the seas. The order of recall arrived when
the wrork was done. It was proudly obeyed, and even
the great Burke admitted that no honor could be be-
stowed upon Rodney which he had not deserved at
his country's hands.

42 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER V.

MARTINIQUE AND ST. LUCIA.

The run from Dominica to Martinique takes three
hours, ( distance 30 miles ) to St. Pierre. Martinique
is French, is 35 by 16 miles, 380 square miles area,
80,000 acres under cultivation, highest peak Mt. Pelee
4,429 feet, -i 54,000 population, and is one of the " wet "
islands wonderful for luxuriance of tropical vegetation.
Within the fine sweeping curves of St. Pierre harbor,
the ship anchors one fourth mile from shore; numerous
boatmam ask a franc per person to wharf. The cur-
rency is French; the franc is reckoned at twenty
cents. The city of St. Pierre has 25,000 inhabitants.
The Rue Victor Hugo is the main street, with excellent
shops running parallel to the shore for a mile or so,
with a market place at each end. One lands at one of
several wharves along an extended water front. To
the right are the American consul's, the Custom
House and a fine Roman Catholic cathedral, back of
which is a public park, shaded by great mango trees,
and a characteristic cemetery. Straight up from the
wharf a street leads back to the bank, post office and
telegraph office, near which are the Hotel des Bains
and Hotel Micass, at either of which a capital dejeuner
is served from eleven to one, at five francs, and rooms
can be had. Carriages may be ordered at the hotels,
the charge being from three to five dollars for a half
a day's drive. An omnibus runs frequently from the
wharf ( 30 centimes — 6 cents ) two miles along shore,
passing an interesting sugar factory. To the left the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 43

Rue Victor Hugo leads past shops, a noticeable foun-
tain, an esplanade with fine view of the harbor, (nearly
opposite is the photographer Mr. Hartmann ), and
the theatre, to the bridge over a river bed. Across
this, down through a poorer quarter, past queer preci-
pitous streets descending to the water front, one
reaches the great market place, picturesque with
guady colors of the French Negroes. .Turn ing to the
right before crossing the bridge, one drives or walks
alongside the river-bed where washer-women beat
and spread their clothes. Through the Place d'
Armes, with its old garrison building, one reaches the
Botanic Garden (a mile or more from the landing).
A fine road-way leads up and up to Mount Rouge, with
superb views on the way, and on the top a drive, pic-
turesque beyond description. Another fine drive is
to Fontaines Chauds ( Hot Springs ) on the further
mountain, beyond the river. The Botanic Garden
was once the principal feature of Martinique, and, in
its way, of the West Indies. It was destroyed in the
hurricane of 1891, and will probably never be restored
under negro rule. To reach the garden, take the
Allee des Palmes to the cascade and the Allee du
Cascade in returning or vice versa, to get a full
view of the wonderful variety and richness of trees
and flowers. The high path to the Bellevue is
avoided by the natives in fear of the fer de lance
snake. Fifteen miles south of St. Pierre is Fort
Royal or Fort de France, ( the name depending on
which party is in power in France), the capital of the
island, with the monument to Josephine; Martinique
being the birth-place of that empress as well as the
scene of St. Pierre's Paul ~et Virginie. Native pot-
tery, carved small calabashes, hats, baskets, fruit and
general shopping are the purchases. No where else
in the West Indies, except in Hayti and Santa Cruz,
are the negroes so insolent and insulting as at Guade-
loupe and Martinique. This is owing to the fact that

44 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

these islands are under negro rule; the governor and
all the officials, except the officers commanding the
troops, are negroes. If it were not for the presence
of the white troops at these islands, there would not
be any whites there; as it is, the whites are selling
out their real estate as fast as possible, and leaving
the island. This sad state of affairs is owing to the
fact that most .of the whites were monarchists; and
when the republic was established in France, the re-
publicans, out of revenge, appointed negroes to rule the
islands, besides granting them universal suffrage.
This, of course, resulted in the election of negroes to
all the minor offices, and to make matters still worse,
when the whites move away or any of their estates
come into the possession of the "Credit Fonder,"
through foreclosure of mortgages, the large estates
are cut up into small holdings and sold to the negroes.
These, as soon as they can get possession of a few acres
of land, obtain enough to subsist on, and then are in-
dependent, and refuse to work on the plantations.
Political agitation has sown the seed of discontent;
and the spirit of false democracy, with its insubordi-
nation and arrogance, shows its forked tongue every-
where. Bare civility is the most one receives, and
even that sometimes dwindles down into familiarity
and insolence. Few of the whites venture out after
eight o'clock in the evening, through fear of being
insulted. But the climate and other natural condi-
tions of the islands are adverse to activity of all kinds,
even to the recreation of political agitations. The
fire of discontent smoulders slowly where laziness
does not entail suffering, and though the white man
has lost his supremacy, his former bondsmen are too
indolent to take the measures which would expel him
altogether from the country. The present situation
cannot be permanent. Shall the story of Hayti be
repeated, and the people allowed to relapse into bar-
barism, or shall a strong government take hold and

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 45

save the negroes from themselves? I shall refer again,
in another part of this work, to negro rule in the
West Indies and the Southern States.

The whites of French descent, born in the West
Indies, Louisiana, and South America are known as
"Creoles." They are fond of the appellation, and
consider the name honorable and worthy to be borne
by the best families. Yet there are very few persons
who use the term, either in the United States or Eng-
land, but applies it to those that have an admix-
ture of African blood. This is an idea wholly
unfounded, for the proper definition of the word
"creole," is "One born in South America or the
West Indies, of European ancestors." It is synony-
mous with the term " Yankee," as applied originally
by the Indians of Canada to the English settlers in
New England — this being a corrupt pronunciation
by them of the French word "Anglais," or English.

The language of the people of Martinique and Gua-
deloupe, of course, is French. The negros speak a
jargon that baffles all attempts at extended conversa-
tion, although they understand French, when spoken
to them, very well. The whites speak French with
an accent that very closely resembles the speech of
the Creoles of Louisiana.

The curse of Martinique and St. Lucia is the deadly
fer-de-latice. This reptile is found only on these two
islands and the main land. He is fearless, and will
not like most snakes get out of your way if he hears
you coming, but leaves you to get out of his. He has
a bad habit, too, of taking his walks at night. He
prefers a path or a road to the grass, and your house,
or your garden, to the forest; while if you step upon
him, you will never do it again. The mongoose has
been recently introduced, but as yet, he has made but
little progress in extirpating this deadly reptile.

Such a thing as a water closet does not exist in
Martinique or Guadeloupe. Visitors will be aston-

46 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

ished to see open sewers on the sides of the streets,
through which runs a rapid stream of mountain water
carrying all impurities promptly to the sea. The
primitive method of using tubs, which are emptied
every morning, at daylight, into the swift stream, is
still in vogue; and, strange to say, very few unpleasant
odors exist.

The southern coasts of Martinique are less precipi-
tous than the northern or leeward shore, and between
the bold headlands, the shore curves inward, afford-
ing anchorage in shallow water. At the head of its
commodious harbor, lies Port Royal, or Fort de
France, as the capitol of the island is alternately
called, with ready compliment either to King or Presi-
dent, whichever may happen for the time to be
installed at Par' \. Near this seaport, about a mile
out, is a narrow valley running up from the sea for
about three miles. In this valley once stood the
house in which Josephine, the wife of Napoleon, was
born, in 1763. Jutting hills hide the sight until you
are close upon it, when a turn in the road discloses a
secluded vale, and a few rods farther, it brings you to
a low wooden and stone building, which recent writers
have erroneously described as the birth-place of the
Empress Josephine. The fact is, this house was not
one of the original buildings, but was constructed
of materials from the house in which Josephine
was born, and which had been destroyed by a hurricane
shortly after her birth.

The walls of the ancient building can be traced,
giving evidence of its having been one of ample
dimensions; the walls once supporting the gallery
and those enclosing the court. The only buildings
now standing which were in existence at the time of
Josephine's birth are two, the kitchen, once attached
to the dwelling, and the sugar house.

In the musty archives of Fort de France is a docu-
ment dated November 9th, 1761. This marriage

BOTANICAL GARDENS, MARTINIQUE,

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 47

register contains the names and rank of the parents
and grand-parents of Josephine, and their place of
residence at that time, only eighteen months previous
to her birth; and this document proves how inaccurate
are the statements of her biographers. It states that
" Messire Joseph Gaspard de Tascher, chevalier, seig-
neur de La Pagerie, native of the parish of St. Jacque
du Carbet, — of said island of Martinique, lieutenant
in the artillery, son in legitimate marriage of Messire
Joseph-Gaspard de Tascher chevalier, seigneur de
La Pagerie and of Madame Marie Francoise Boureau
de La Chevalerie, - living in the town of Port Royal,
was married to " Demoiselle Rose-Claire des Very-
ers de Sannois, native of the parish of Trois-Ilets,
daughter in legitimate marriage of Messire Joseph des
Vergers de Sannois and of dame Marie-Catherine
Brown, natives of, and dwellers in the parish of Trois
-Ilets," etc.

It would seem from this document, judging from
the name, that one of the grand-parents, "Mary
Catherine Brown" was English or of English descent.

At the age of sixteen, Josephine was married to
Alexander de Beauharnais, in France. In 1788,
having separated from her husband, she returned to
her birth-place, and passed three tranquil years. With
her little daughter, Hortense,then five years old, she
rambled over the hills and valleys endeared to her by
the memory of her childhood days. Here, with a lov-
ing father and mother in the company of her youngest
sister she passed some of the happiest days of her ex-
istence.

No better description can be written at the present
time of this spot than that penned by Josephine a
hundred years ago, during her separation from Beau-
harnis. She says :

" Nature, rich and sumptuous, has covered with a
carpeting which charms as well by the variety of its
colors as of its objects. She has strewn the banks of

STAXA''S HISTORY AND GUIDE

HOT SPRINGS.

our rivers with flowers, and planted the freshest for-
ests around our fertile borders. I cannot resist the
temptation to breathe the pure aromatic odors wafted
on the zephyr's wings. I love to hide myself in the
green woods that skirt our dwelling, there I tread on
flowers which exhale a perfume as rich as that of the
orange grove, and more grateful to the senses.''

Down the hill, within a stone's throw of the dwell-
ing, is the sugar house to which M. La Pagerie

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 49

removed after the visit of the hurricane. It is of
stone, its walls very thick, at least two feet, and it is
covered with the durable brown tiles so much in har-
mony with the landscape. In the eastern half, are two
large chambers extending two-thirds the length of the
building. The roof has fallen in at one place, and you
can look into the interior of one of the chambers in
which Josephine and her parents lived during her
youth. Through these low windows how often has
the youthful empress looked out on this beautiful
tropical landscape !

At a short distance from Fort de France, the seat
of government of Martinique, rise the celebrated hot
mineral springs known as "Fontaine Chaude." These
springs are said to possess great curative properties.
They flow in large streams from the ground, and the
water is conveyed to bathing houses to which great
numbers of invalids resort. In the year 1837, while
a party of ladies were enjoying the baths, and entirely
unsuspicious of danger, the embankment at the head
of the springs, where the waters were confined in a
large reservoir, gave way. the torrent overwhelmed the
bathing house and bore the inmates to destruction.
Among the victims was the beautiful Mile Adele,
who was considered the most beautiful maiden on the
island.

To the south of Martinique, a mile from the main-
land, lies Diamond Rock, 574 feet high. This
stupendous rock leaps from the sea with such perpen-
dicular sides, that by their exceeding steepness it is
rendered inaccessible to man, and remained, no doubt,
unsealed from the time of its creation, until Admiral
Sir Thomas Hood, serving under Rodney, conceived
the idea of "bearding the lion in his den," by flaunt-
ing the British flag from the peak of this rock, in the
face of the Frenchmen at Martinique. It is said that
some of Hood's sailors flew a great kite from the
deck of a sloop of war, (or as some say, fired a shot)

50 STARTS HISTORY A KD GUIDE

to which was fastened a line which they managed to
stretch across the crag; by this line a rope was drawn
over the lofty pinancle and made fast to the vessel
below, which had been lashed alongside the rock. A
crew of brave men were then hoisted up to the top of
the pinnacle, many feet above the main truck of their
vessel; guns and provisions were sent aloft and
stowed away by the boarding party, and no time was
lost in planting the English flag in full view of the
surprised Frenchmen, who, too late, found themselves
outwitted by the English mariners When the sun
went down, H. B. M. Sloop-of-War Diamond Rock
was armed, manned and provisioned, and regularly
registered as such on the naval records. And from
their sea-girt citadel, Hood's sailors blazed away with
their long-torn at every kind of craft that came with-
in their reach. The crew was finally starved out, and
the Frenchmen took oossession of the crag and have
held it ever since.

ST. LUCIA.

St. Lucia (English, 35 by 12 miles, highest land
the volcano Soufriere 4000 feet, 248 square miles
area, 31,000 population,) is reached after a three hours'
run from Martinique, from which it is 24 miles distant.
The port is Castres, with a fine bowl-like harbor, an
old crater, which is to become the coaling station of
the British fleet in the West Indies. This is the only
port where we lie alongside the wharf, which is near the
market place. The town is laid out at right angles.
To the left a street leads to the post office and to the
government works. To the extreme right, separate
from the town, is the hospital, a fine building. A
small park and a Roman Catholic cathedral are
toward the back of the town. The interior of the
island is very picturesque and rich in vegetation, but
the deadly fer de lance snake is an object of dread.

fc^

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 51

The chief objects of interest at this island are the two
Pintons, superb conical peaks rising sheer from
the sea 2,715 and 2,500 feet, which the ship passes
at the south of the island. It is only recently that
an ascent has been made ; a party of young men em-
ployed in the telegraph office at Castres, climbed the
tallest of the Pintons and ate their luncheon on the top
of the pinnacle. Tradition says, that years ago, four
English seamen belonging to the fleet set out to climb
the loftier of the two. They were watched in their
ascent through a telescope; when half way up, one
of them was seen to drop while three went on ; a few
hundred feet higher, a second dropped and afterwards
a third ; one had almost reached the summit when he
fell also. No account of what had befallen them ever
reached their ship. They were supposed to have
been bitten by the deadly fer de lance who had re-
sented and punished their intrusion into regions
wherein they had no business. Such is the local
legend ; this fate, however, did not befall the late
adventurous climbers, for they all returned safely.

St. Lucia is one of the most interesting of all the
Caribbees to the student of history who delights in the
story of battles upon land and sea. The Caribs made
a desperate resistance here. In less than two months
after the first settlers landed from the English ship
Olive-Blossom, in 1605, the Caribs descended upon
the settlement and all the colonists were either killed
or driven from the island. Again, in 1639, a com-
pany of English settlers attempted its colonization.
Scarcely had they laid the foundation of their
settlement when the Caribs, stirred to hostility by
the French at Martinique, or outraged by the attempt
to make slaves of their countrymen, fell upon the
English and killed all they could lay their hands upon
expelling the survivors from the island.

In 1651 the French settled here under Chouselan,
who erected a fort, and married a Carib woman, and

52 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

was supposed to possess great influence with the
natives. In 1660, a treaty was concluded between
the French and English on one hand, and the Caribs
on the other. This did not continue long, for the
parties of the first part, ignoring entirely the parties
of the second part, began to contend with one another
for the possession of St. Lucia; and this warfare be-
tween France and England, for the possession of this
island continued, almost uninterruptedly, for one
hundred and sixty years. Of so great importance
was St. Lucia considered as a military and naval sta-
tion, that both nations never hesitated to make vast
sacrifices of troops and treasure for its capture or
defense.

In a report made by a French governor of the
island to the first Napoleon, he asserted that "it had
always been the intention of France to make St.
Lucia the capital of the Antilles and ' the Gibralter
of the Gulf of Mexico.' '

Admiral Rodney, in a letter written in 1772,
pointed out the necessity of retaining either Mar-
tinique or St. Lucia, and of the two, he favored the
latter. " Either of these islands, in the hands of
Great Britain, must, while she remain a great mari-
time power, make her sovereign of the West Indies."
This advice of Rodney's, given one hundred and
twenty years ago, is as applicable to-day as then.

The proposed Panama and Nicaraugua canal has
reminded England of the necessity of a fortified coal-
ing station at this place, and of the great natural
advantages of St. Lucia for such a purpose.

Work is already in progress, and the long-deserted
forts and barracks, which had been left to snakes and
lizards, are again to be occupied by English troops.
The island has borrowed seventy thousand pounds on
Government security to prepare for the dignity which
awaits it and for the prosperity which is to follow. '

In 1664, the year in which New York was captured

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 53

by the English, the Barbadians invaded St. Lucia and
fought a bloody engagement with the French, and
held it three years, until by the Treaty of Breda, it
was given up to France.

In 1728, forces of both nations occupied strong
positions in the islands; but in order to avoid further
effusion of blood, it was decided to consider St. Lucia
neutral territory: which was confirmed by the Treaty
of Aix la Chapelle in 1748. But, as usual, little at-
tention was paid to the decision by either the French
of Martinique or the English of Barbados; for, dis-
regarding all treaties and agreements, they continually
attempted to take advantage of one another, at all
times, and in all ways, lawfully or unlawfully.

On the renewal of hostilities between France and
England, in 1756, Martinique was captured by the
English forces under General Monckton, operating in
conjunction with a fleet commanded by Admiral
Rodney. St. Lucia, as usual, was retaken by the
English, and remained under British rule until 1763,
when, by the Treaty of Paris, it was ceded to France.
The French then laid the foundation of a colonial
government there on a grand scale, establishing them-
selves more securely than ever before, and were pre-
pared, as they thought, for any emergency. When
war broke out afresh, in 1778, England at once
devoted all the resources at her command to a des-
parate attempt to drive her old enemies out of St.
Lucia. Orders were issued to Sir Henry Clinton,
then in command at New York, to send an expedition
to the West Indies.

On the same day that Admiral Rodney left Sandy
Hook, a French fleet, under Count d' Estaing, sailed
from Boston for the same destination. The "two
squadrons sailed in parallel and not far distant
courses," towards the Caribbean island ; but the
British outsailed their adversaries and joined the
fleet, already on the station, under the command of

54 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

Admiral Barrington. In December, 1778, the British
vessels entered the bay at Grand Cul de Sac, the
troops effecting a landing without meeting any re-
sistance from the French, who had shut themselves
up in their fortifications. Early in the following
year, a bloody battle was fought at the Vegie, a
fortress commanding Castries Harbor.

The French were defeated, and Count d' Estaing
sailed away> leaving St. Lucia in possession of
the English who fortified themselves so strongly
upon the island, that, in after years, under Rodney,
Hood and other great naval captains, they bore down
on their enemies, the French Dutch and Spaniards,
in every part of the Caribbean Sea, pursuing their
fleets, capturing their convoys, storming their forts,
and blockading their ports.

It was from here that Rodney and Hood sailed in
pursuit of the French on the memorable I2th of
April, 1782, when was fought, one of the bloodiest
and most obstinately contested naval battles ever
waged between rivals. An account of this action
was given in the description of Dominica.

For this service to his country, Rodney was elevated
to the peerage, received a pension of two thousand
pounds for himself and his heirs, and a monument in
St. Paul's Cathedral at his death.

By the Treaty of Versailles, in 1784, St. Lucia
passed again under French rule. What England
gained by the sword France retook by a stroke of
the pen. In the many battles fought for the posses-
sion of this island, England always had the best of it;
but France, in the end, always secured her own again,
by treaty.

In 1794, war broke out again between England and
France and raged with redoubled fury. On March
2Oth, Sir John Jervis captured Martinique; and eight
days later, the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen
Victoria, captured St. Lucia; and once more the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 55

British flag waved on Morne Fortune. Towards the
close of 1/94, Robespierre sent Citizen Goyrand in
command of an expedition to St. Lucia. So rapidly
was his movements executed, that, within a few days,
with the exception of two forts, the island was entirely
in possession of the French. In April, 1795, the
English having been reinforced, gained a temporary
advantage over the enemy, but were finally defeated
and driven from the island.

Early in 1796, Sir Ralph Abercrombie arrived at
St. Lucia with an army of twelve thousand men.
Citizen Goyrand, with two thousand men, occupied
Morne Fortune, overlooking the Bay of Castries.
A division, under Sir John Moore, effected a landing
at Longueville Bay, a short distance along the coast
from Castries.

After several sanguinary engagements, in which
Moore distinguished himself by leading the troops
into the thickest of the fight, the French were over-
powered and surrendered.

As usual, when the Treaty of Amiens was signed,
March 27th, 1802, St. Lucia was returned to the
French. This peace lasted only fifteen months, when
war began again, the West Indies, once more, becom-
ing the battle ground, and St. Lucia, as usual, the
first object of attack. On June I9th, 1803, Commo-
dore Samuel Hood sailed from Barbados to St.
Lucia. The French shut themselves in Morne
Fortune. The English bravely stormed the works at
the point of the bayonet and captured them after a
short resistance. After a struggle of one hundred
and fifty years, for its possession, St. Lucia finally
became a British colony, and entitled to the name of
"the dark and bloody ground."

56 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER VI.

BARBADOS.
ITS FIRST APPEARANCE. EARL Y HISTOR Y.

Leaving St. Lucia in the evening, the island of St.
Vincent, twenty-one miles to the southward of St.
Lucia, was passed during the night. The following
morning, as the sun arose, we were close to Barbados.
As we steamed along the west side of the island
towards Carlisle Bay, (the harbor of Bridgetown, the
capital of the island,) the view was very beautiful.
Long ranges of limestone terraces rose above each
other with here and there a rounded hill, covered
with fields of bright green sugar cane, and pictur-
esque windmills, and sugar works. Near by there
were the planters' houses, embosomed in groves of
mahogany, bread-fruit, and orange trees. Here and
there rose the tower of a parish church. Rows of
stately palms crowned the tops of ridges, leading in
magnificent avenues up to the estate houses; dotting
in solitary grandeur the landscape, groves of cocoa-
nut palms, bent gracefully over the water's edge;
white limestone roads, wound like ribbons through
the green fields of cane: — all these, together with
the deep blue of sea and sky, the former, rolling
in turbulent waves and dashing in white spray over

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 57

the treacherous coral reefs on the cavernous, honey-
combed shore, and stretches of gleaming sand, form
a rare, and never-to-be-forgotten panorama.

The sea is dotted, far and wide, with the flying-
fish boats. As you glide into Carlisle Bay, the scene
which is presented is one of remarkable activity and
bustle, in many ways interesting and picturesque.
At no other port in the Caribbean Islands is to be
seen so great a fleet of merchantmen and coasting-
vessels. There were five large steamers at anchor
belonging to the Royal Mail; one had just arrived
from Southampton and was transferring its passen-
gers and freight to the other steamers, bound for
Trinidad, Jamaica, Panama, Caribbee Islands, and
Republic of Columbia. More than a hundred sail of
many flags were anchored, among them, ten men-of-
war of the British North American squadron, and two-
white cruisers of the United States navy.

The steamer is immediately surrounded by negro-
boatmen, who swarm on every side, only waiting the
visit of the health officer before bearing you bag and
baggage on shore. We put ourselves into the hands
of the clerk from the Marine Hotel, who quickly
transferred us to the shore where carriages from the
hotel were waiting. The Marine Hotel is the largest
hotel in the West Indies. It is situated at Hastings,
a watering place, two and one-half miles from Bridge-
town; it is easy of access by street cars, and overlooks
the ocean. The sea bathing there is the finest in the
world, the temperature of the water being about 80
degrees, suitable for the most delicate invalids. The
attractions of Hastings and the places of interest in
the neighborhood, point to it as the natural centre to-
be chosen by tourists who desire to see with comfort
all the beauties of coast and inland scenery which
Barbados affords.

Hastings is considered the most healthy spot in
the island, for which reason the hotel was built

58 S TA RK ^S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

there. The house contains upwards of three hundred
rooms, and is run on the American plan under the
management of Mr. G. L. Pomroy, an American from
the State of Maine. The terms are quite reasonable,
from $2.50 to $4.00 per day.

A VIEW IN FRONT OF THE ICE HOUSE.

About half way to Hastings, nearly opposite the
4< Garrison savannah," is a less pretentious hotel, (the
41 Sea View," ) kept by Mrs. Walton Piggot; the terms
are $2.00 per day, or $10.00 per week.

The "Ice-House " in Bridgetown is the principal
hotel in the town; it is situated on a business street,
and is an institution peculiar to the West Indies.
The lower part of the building is occupied by a
grocery and provision store, while above, are a bar-
room and restaurant, where iced drinks are to be had
in abundance.

This is not a family hotel, such as those previously
described, but is frequented chiefly by business men
and sea captains.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 59

The accompanying illustration represents a char-
acteristic street scene, in front of the ''Ice House,"
of darkies scrabbling for pennies thrown to them by
visitors.

Barbados, or, as it has often been called, "Little
England," is the most windward of the Lesser An-
tilles; it is washed on one side by the Atlantic Ocean
and on the other by the Caribbean Sea. It is the
oldest of England's West India possession. The
island was originally discovered by the Spaniards in
the early part of the sixteenth century, who found it
covered with forests, from many of the trees of which
hung, in graceful festoons, a beard-like moss; whence
the island's name, Barbados, or the bearded place.

Among the rich collection of manuscripts in the
British Museum, is a map of the world, with the
names in French; this map is supposed to have been
executed about 1536. The Island of Barbados occur
on this chart, for the first time, under the name of
Bernados.

When first discovered by the Spaniards, the island
was inhabited by Indians, for Charles the Fifth, of
Spain, in his instructions to Rodrigo de Figueroa, in
1518, concerning the freeing of the Indian slaves that
had been taken to Espafiola, under the pretext of
their being Caribs, mentions those taken from the
" Isla de los Barbudos." This is further proven by
the large number of implements found in all parts of
the island.

Here, as in the Bahama Islands, the Spaniards,
with an appalling atrocity, acted towards the unfor-
tunate Indians as though they did not belong to the
human race. It was one unspeakable outrage, one
unutterable ruin, without discrimination of age or sex;
they who died not, under the lash, in a tropical sun,
died in the darkness of the mine. From the coral
islands, from the mangrove swamps, and the gloom
of impenetrable forests, there went up to God a last

60 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

cry of human despair. By millions upon millions,
whole races were remorselessly cut off by the bar-
barous Spaniards. Las Casas affirms that more than
fifteen millions were exterminated in his time, among
them were the aboriginal inhabitants of Barbados.

The first English vessel which touched at Barbados
appears to have been the "Olive Blossom," com-
manded by Captain Cataline. This vessel was fitted
out at the expense of Sir Olive Leigh, Knight, and
sailed from Woolwich on the I4th of April, 1605,
with colonists and stores for "Master Charles Leigh,"
his brother, who had settled a colony in the river
Oyapoco. . Owing to the unskilfulness of the sailing
master, Richard Chambers, they were obliged to
touch at Barbados. The crew, finding it destitute of
inhabitants, took possession of the country by erect*
ing a cross upon the spot where Jamestown was
afterwards built, and cut upon the bark of a tree
which stood near, "James, K. of E., and this island;"
that is, James, King of England, and this island.
They then followed the shore, until their progress
was stopped by the river, which afterwards received
the name of Indian River, where the explorers per-
formed a similar ceremony of taking possession of the
island. They did not, however, commence any settle-
ment, and only stayed to refresh themselves. From
Barbados, they went to St. Lucia, where Mr. John
Nicholl and the colonists who proposed to have set-
tled in Guiana, resolved to stay. The new set-
tlers were surprised by the Indians, as mentioned in
the previous chapter, and the few who escaped, after
many adventures, arrived at Carthagena.* Some
Dutch vessels, which were specially licensed by the
court of Spain to trade with Brazil, landed in Barbados
on their return to Europe, for the purpose of procur-
ing refreshments. On their arrival in Zealand, they
gave a flattering account of the island, *which was

*An hour glass of Indian Nerwes, by John Nicholl, London, 1607.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 61

communicated by a correspondent to William Cour-
teen, a merchant of London, who was at that time
deeply engaged in the trade with the New World.
The favorable account given by the Dutch navigators
was shortly afterwards confirmed by one of Courteen's
own vessels, which was driven by stress of weather on
the coast of Barbados; this occurred about 1624.

The men on Courteen's ship landed and stayed
some time ; they found the island thickly overgrown
with wood, but without any inhabitants. Ligon
asserts, however, that there were wild hogs in abund-
ance, which he considered to have been left there by
the Portuguese; so that, in case they should be driven
again on the coast, they might find fresh meat. This
seems to have been the common practice of the Por-
tuguese, for when Sir George Somers was wrecked
on the Bermudas, he found the -island uninhabited,
but containing an abundance of wild hogs left there
by the Portuguese.

The accounts which Sir William Courteen received
from his own people, respecting the fertility and
commodious situation of Barbados, confirmed him in
his plan of forming a settlement there.

Lord Ley, afterwards Earl of Marlborough, and
Lord High Treasurer, having been informed of the
favorable accounts which were given of Barbados,
applied to James the First for a patent to secure the
island to him and his heirs forever. Under his pro-
tection, Sir William Courteen fitted out two large
ships, supplied with arms, ammunition, and the
necessary tools for commencing a settlement. Of
these ships, one only, the William and John, com-
manded by Henry Powell, arrived in 1626 at Bar-
bados, and landed, on the leeward side of the island,
forty Englishmen, with seven or eight negroes.* Of
the former, William Arnold was one of the first to
step ashore.

*Captain John Smith's Travels, etc., London, 1630.

62 S TA RK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

The colonists fortified themselves near the spot
of which possession had been taken nearly twenty
years previously by the crew of the Olive Blossom,
and laid the foundation of a town, which, in honor of
their sovereign, they called Jamestown. They elected
Captain William Dean, Governor; and thus Barbados
was one of the few islands which fell into the hands
of the English, without bloodshed and the extirpation
of its aboriginal inhabitants, the Spaniards having
accomplished this, both here and in the Bahamas,
before the coming of the English.

The negroes referred to, were taken in a prize by
the William and John on her voyage to Barbados, she
sailing under letters of marque; these were the first
slaves brought to Barbados.

The settlers* soon found that the island was desti-
tute of food-bearing plants. Captain Powell, accord-
ingly set sail, fourteen days after his arrival, for
Essequibo. The Dutch governor, who was an old
acquaintance, received him most kindly, and not only
procured roots, seeds and plants, but also persuaded
about forty Arrawack Indians to accompany Powell
on his return to Barbados, to teach the settlers how
to plant the provisions. The Indians stipulated that,
if, at the end of two years, they wished to return
to Essequibo, they should be free to do so, and
should receive, as payment for their services, fifty
pounds sterling in axes, bills, hoes, knives, looking-
glasses and beads ; which agreement was afterwards
shamefully violated, the Indians being held as slaves.

After an absence of some months, Captain Powell
returned to Barbados, where he appears to have found
the colonists in distress for want of food. It was,
therefore, a welcome supply of provisions he brought
back with him. And now were introduced, for the
first time, into Little England, cassava, Indian corn,
potatoes, plantains, bananas, oranges, lemons, pine-
apples and melons. Tobacco, cotton and sugar-cane

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 63

came at the same time, and also a supply of fowls.

The Indians were set to planting as soon as they
arrived; and, as the crops grew, the Colony soon be-
came furnished with the necessaries of life. Tobacco
and cotton were cultivated for export. •

Captain Powell had returned from the mainland
but two days, when his brother, Captain John Powell,
arrived at Barbados from England, in the Peter, ac-
companied by a pinnace called the Thomasine ; the
two vessels together brought about fifty men, all
English, with a quantity of materials for the further
planting of the island. These vessels were also
furnished at the cost of Sir William Courteen and his
friends

A fort was soon built and called " Plantation Fort,"
and the King of England's colors were raised upon it.
Two guns were mounted on the Fort, and there was a
good supply of swords and muskets and of small round
shot and powder. Among those who accompanied
Captain Henry Powell, was a young gentleman of the
name of Henry Winthrop, then only eighteen years
of age; he was a younger son of Squire Winthrop of
Groton Hall, in the County of Suffolk, afterwards the
founder of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and the
"Father of Boston." Another brother, Captain
Samuel Winthrop, settled at Antigua, as has been
previously mentioned in the chapter on that island.
Another brother, John Winthrop Jr., founded the
city of New London, Connecticut, and became the
first governor of that colony. It is from letters
written by Henry Winthrop to his father, Governor
John Winthrop, and preserved by his family — the
most famous family in the United States to-day — that
an insight is given us of the earliest days of the
infant colony.*

*Massachusetts Historical Collection, Vol. VIII, Fifth Series, Winthrop Papers,
pp. 179, 180. Also reprinted in "Cavaliers and Roundheads," by N. Darnell Davis,
Georgetown, British Guiana, 1887.

64 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Captain Powell left Barbados in August, 1627.
Before his departure, he handed over a third of the
ship's provisions to the settlers.

It is asserted that James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, ob-
tained from James the First, a grant or warrant for
a grant under the great seal, of all the Caribbean
islands, which the king erected into a province under
the name of Carliola. The report of the adventure
-of Sir William Courteen, to settle Barbados, induced
Lord Carlisle to get his former grant confirmed.
His application to Charles the First was successful,
for the King granted to him all the Caribbee Islands
by letter patent. The Earl of Marlborough opposed
this grant, on the ground of priority of right, which
produced a tedious litigation. The Earl of Carlisle
compromised with the Lord High Treasurer, by
agreeing to pay to him and his heirs forever an
annuity of three hundred pounds for his claim; and
in consequence of this arrangement, the patent of the
Earl of Carlisle passed the great seal on June 2, 1627,
whereby he became sole proprietor of the Caribbee
Islands, including Barbados. This patent authorized
the Earl of Carlisle, or his heirs, to publish such
laws, with the consent and approbation of "the free
inhabitants of the said province, or the greater part
of them thereto, to be called;" these laws, however,
"to be agreeable, and not repugnant unto reason nor
against, but as convenient and agreeable as may be,
to the laws, statutes, customs and rights of our own
kingdom of England. Such was the state of affairs
when on July 5, 1628, about seventy mem arrived
from St. Kitts for the purpose of making a settlement
in Barbados under the patronage of the Earl of Car-
lisle. Their leader was Captain Charles Wolferstone,
a native of Bermuda ; he brought a letter from Lord
Carlisle directed to Captain John Powell, Jr., (the son
of the Captain John Powell who brought them over
from England,) and to Captain William Deans and

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 65

other planters, by which these gentlemen were in-
formed that the new comers had been sent by the Earl
to join with them in the Plantation. The letter said
the new settlers should in no way prejudice the old
ones. Wolferstone's party anchored in the bay which
they named after the Earl of Carlisle. They were "en-
tertained" by the planters under Dean and Powell;
but when the latter found that Wolferstone intended
to set up the authority of the Earl of Carlisle over
them, they objected and asked him to leave them alone
that they might "enjoy the freedom of Englishmen."
Wolferstone issued a proclamation summoning the in-
habitants to meet at the Bridge. The new comers
having settled to the windward of the first settlers, as-
sumed the name of Windward-men, and the others
were called Leeward-men; the latter made their appear-
ance at the Bridge, afterwards known as Bridgetown.
They would not, however, hear of submitting to the
authority of the Earl of Carlisle; Dean, however, who
recognized a countryman in Wolferstone, tendered
his allegiance. The others returned that night to
their settlements, making "torches of wild canes"
with which to pick their way home through the
darkness. A body of men, under the command of
Dean, who had so treacherously deserted his former
adherants, was now despatched by Wolferstone for
their submission. They were met by Captain Powell
and his men who marched out to meet their adversa-
ries. They met at the Palmetto Fort near the Hole,*
but an engagement was prevented by the interposi-
tion of a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Kentlane, who made
a proposition that the dispute should be referred
to the two Earls. The Leeward-men submitted to
the Earl of Carlisle's authority ad interim, on the I4th
of September, 1628. When peace had thus been
made, the settlers fell to work again; but Wolferstone,
who had seized Plantation Fort, now took the oppor-
tunity of casting into prison the Governor, John

66 5 TA KK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

Powell, with Thomas Parris and many other influen-
tial planters.

The triumph of the Carlisle men was but short.
On the I4th, of January, 1629, Captain Henry Powell,
(uncle of John Powell, the Governor,) arrived from
England, in the Peter and John, with about eighty
men. He landed his men armed with muskets, took
possession of the Fort, seizipg Wolferstone and
Dean, whom he carried to England with him, and
restored his nephew to the Governorship of the Island
with the people's consent.

On the Qth of April following, by another turn of
Fortune's wheel, the Carlisle interest again became
supreme. On that day, the ship Carlisle, Captain
Robert Dennis, master, arrived at Barbados, having
on board four Commissioners, who were on their way
to Nevis, sent by Lord Carlisle to inquire into the
contentions among the inhabitants of that island.

The Commissioners, after having been at first re-
fused a landing, were courteously entertained by
Governor John Powell, whom they, in return, invited
to corne on board their ship with his Secretary,
Kempe, and eat a "Kettle of breams" at breakfast.
The Governor and his Secretary, '" not thinking any
any harm, did goe."

At breakfast time, Powell and Kempe were taken
prisoners by a guard of musketeers, under Captain
Ramsey, and put into irons. The unfortunate cap-
tives were chained to the mainmast of the Carlisle,
and remained in that condition for three weeks or a
month, at Barbados, and until they were subsequently
taken by the Spaniards at Nevis. This brutal treat-
ment seems to have caused the death of Powell. En-
raged by this act of treachery, the Leeward-men again
took up arms. They attacked the Carlisle settlement
on the 1 6th of April following, but were met with a
spirited resistance and compelled to make a precipi-
tate retreat; the island was thus finally lost to

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 67

Sir William Courteen. For the gallant defence made
by the Windward-men, the Earl of Carlisle granted
them free storage of their goods for a term of seven
years.

The two claimants to the possession of Barbados
meanwhile employed all the interest they possessed
to have their grants declared valid, but the superior
influence of the Earl of Carlisle prevailed, and the
King ordered a second patent to be issued, clearing
up all doubts that had arisen, and confirming Lord
Carlisle in the most explicit manner as proprietor of
Barbados. This document bears date the /th of
April, 1629. The Earl of Carlisle appointed Sir Wil-
liam Tufton, baronet, commander-in-chief of the
island. He arrived at Barbados on the 2ist of
December, 1629, accompanied by Charles Saltonstall
and two hundred colonists. The number of inhabi-
tants, at that time, amounted to between fifteen and
sixteen hundred persons. The force placed at
the command of the governor was quite sufficient to
subdue the Leeward-men, and the interest of Courteen
in the colony was therefore suppressed.

In spite of the enegertic measures which Sir Wil-
liam Tufton adopted for the welfare of the young
colony, he did not gain the approbation of the Earl of
Carlisle, for he commissioned Captain Henry Hawley
as Governor, with power to establish a council and to
depose Sir William Tufton " by force, if necessary."
* The new governor arrived in June, 1630; and dur-
ing this year, the colony suffered for the want of food
in consequence of a severe drought. Governor Haw-
ley was secretly accused of applying stores which the
Earl had sent out for the relief of the colonists to his
own purpose. Sir William Tufton and others signed
a memorial, addressed to the governor, complaining
of his withholding these supplies from them. On
April nth, 1631, he appointed a new Council and
constituted them a tribunal, before which Governor

68 START'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Hawley arraigned Sir William Tufton and two others,
(Floory, a surgeon, and one Morgan,) for high treason,
for having presented the petition against him as
Governor. Sir Walter Calverley, Master Reynold
Alleyne, and other councillors, to their undying dis-
grace, sentenced the accused to death, and they were
accordingly executed the following May: Sir Wil-
liam Tufton being shot, and the others hanged. Such
arbitrary proceedings drew the displeasure of the
Earl upon the Governor, who was recalled to England.
Hawley, when he observed Lord Carlisle's dissatis-
faction with his colonial management, returned
privately to Barbados for the purpose of strengthen-
ing his power. Sir Henry Hucks was appointed
Governor of Barbados in March, 1639, an^ his appoint-
ment was confirmed by the King; but when he
arrived in Barbados, he found that Hawley had " got
there before him, called in all commissions, proclaimed
all offices void, made the jail delivery a day of mercy,
chose Burgesses, and settled a Parliament." Sir
Henry was not allowed to read his commission, but
was ordered to give it up, or his person would be
seized. The King's letter was slighted, Captain
Hawley disputing Lord Carlisle's proprietorship of
the island. The Parliament chose Hawley Governor,
and he was proclaimed ''with the greatest scorn"
towards Lord Carlisle Sir Henry Hucks was forced
to leave the island, and went to Antigua.

As soon as the information reached England of
this refusal to deliver the reins of government into
Major Hucks' hands, Captain Ashton was sent with
stringent powers from the King and. the Earl of Car-
lisle, to force Hawley to submission. In pursuance
of these instructions, Hawley was arrested and sent
prisoner to England, and his estate confiscated ; he
afterwards returned to Barbados, where he lived for
many years, and held good positions.

Sir Henry Hucks returned from Antigua, and was

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 69

appointed Governor on the 4th of December, 1640.
He soon relinguished the government of the island
into the hands of Captain Philip Bell, who "had a
plentiful estate," having been governor of Bermuda
and Old Providence. His rule was very beneficial to
the colony, which he governed with marked success
from June i8th, 1641, till May, 1650. During that
time, the colonists prospered wonderfully well; the
Legislature was remodelled and a Council of twelve,
with an Assembly of twenty-two members, was es-
tablished, and with the consent of the colonists some
useful laws were made. It was enacted that the
island should be divided into eleven parishes, in each
of which a church should be built, and that each
parish should have two representatives at least, to be
elected by the freeholders. It was also enacted that
those who were in quiet possession of land granted to
them by former governors, or by virtue of conveyance
or other act in law, should be confirmed in it, and be
empowered to dispose of it, either in part or in whole,
or it should otherwise descend, or be confirmed to
their heirs forever. Certain fees for public officers
were stipulated and fixed upon, to prevent extortion;
the island was fortified, and the militia rendered
formidable by its numbers.

During Hawley's administration, he was ordered
to make no grants of lands for a longer period
than seven years, or, at the most, for life. During
1636 he made ninety-eight new grants, comprising
nine thousand eight hundred -and ten acres, which
was now confirmed to their possessors by Governor
Bell.

Hawley's Council also resolved, in the same year,
that Negroes and Indians, who were brought to Bar-
bados for sale, should serve for life, unless a previous
contract had been made to the contrary. This law
forms an important era in the history of Barbados, as
from the time it came into operation, slavery was
fully established in the island.

70 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

In 1649, the negro slaves made an attempt to throw
off their bondage; the boldest had planned a con-
spiracy to massacre all the white inhabitants and to
make themselves masters of the island. They kept
this secret so well that their masters remained wholly
in ignorance of it until the day previous to the one
they had appointed for carrying their plot into execu-
tion. A servant of Judge Hothersall revealed the
secret to his master; effective measures were imme-
diately taken to secure the leaders, and the scheme
was frustrated. Eighteen of the principal conspirators
were condemned to death and executed.*

It was during Governor Bell's administration that
the sugar industry was established. The sugar cane
had been introduced by Captain Powell, but the juice
seems to have been used only for making some kind
of a drink that would be refreshing in a hot climate.
At first, only a moist sugar, which would hardly bear
transportation from the island, was made. The plant-
ers also made the mistake of cutting their canes at
twelve instead of fifteen months. In time, however,
after some planters had visited Brazil and learned the
business, all came right, and not only were muscova-
does made, but the manufacture of "whites" was
accomplished. The colonists now prospered greatly;
the Dutch giving them credit, almost to any extent,
on supplying them with negroes, for whom payment
was not required until these laborers had planted canes
for a crop, and that crop had been reaped and con-
verted into sugar.

When the Civil War broke out in England, the
Dutch managed nearly the whole trade of the English
West Indian colonies; they furnished, not only ne-
groes to the Barbadian planters, but also copper, stills,
and every other appliance needed for the " ingenios"
as the sugar works were called, and also with the
ordinary requisites of life.

*Ligon's History of Barbados, p. 45.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR IB BEE ISLANDS. 71

A large number of emigrants had arrived from
England, most of whom were under thirty years of
age, consisting for the most part of farmers and
artisans ; only a small proportion were women. In
1645, the population was 18,300 effective men on the
island, of whom 1 1,200 were proprietors. .

This large number of landholders was the outcome
of a system of allotting dividends of five, ten, twenty
and thirty acres of land to colonists, and also of a law
which allowed three, four or five acres to a "servant"
when his time of service was out.

There were now about 6,400 negroes in the island.
In 1650, the population had increased to 30,000, not
only by the influx of negroes brought from Guinea
and Bonney, but by the immigration of English set-
tlers, who "took ship" during the troubles, or "fled
over sea" when the Royal cause was lost, hoping to
find a place of refuge in the "far Barbados."

72 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER VII.

CIVIL WAR IN BARBADOS.

The unhappy dissensions which had broken out
between the King and his subjects in England, had
in the commencement, no effect upon the prosperity
of the Barbados. In the turmoil of factions, the new
colony was forgotten and left to itself, its trade re-
maining unrestricted. The fame of the prosperity of
the island was not only carried to England, but spread
over Europe.

After the death of Lord Carlisle, it was found that
he had, by his will, settled Barbados for the payment
of his debts. About the year 1647, his son and heir
entered into negotiations with Francis, Lord Will-
oughby of Parham, for the fulfilment of his father's
wish, to pay his debts from the revenue of the island;
this he thought might be effected in a short time,
and the benefits arising from it would afterwards
fall to him as heir.

Lord Willoughby, at the commencement of hostili-
ties, had been opposed to the Royal Party; he was in
1642 Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, and by organizing
the militia drew upon himself the King's displeasure.
He now openly espoused the popular cause, and dis-
tinguished himself in Gainsborough, where he took the
Earl of Kingston prisoner. As an acknowledgement
of his numerous services, Parliament raised him to an
earldom in December, 1645. I]1 '647, he was sus-
pected of being connected with the intrigues of the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 73

Earl of Suffolk. He and others were impeached by
Parliament; and, his former great services and merits
not being at all considered, his life, fortune and honor
would have been forfeited had he not escaped to Hol-
land, where he arrived in March, 1647, and openly
espoused the cause of the Prince of Wales.

The negotiations between the new Earl of Carlisle
and Lord Willoughby, respecting Barbados, had been
brought to a close previous to his flight. The King
was then in the hands of the army, but with his ap-
probation and consent, it was agreed that the Earl of
Carlisle should convey to Lord Willoughby a lease of
all the profits which should arise out of that colony
for twenty-one years, one moiety of which was to be
reserved for the use of the Earl. In consequence of
this arrangement, Lord Willoughby was promised a
commission as Governor of Barbados and the rest of
the Caribbee Islands. Lord Willoughby informed
the Prince of Wales of this agreement, who, as the
King had already recommended him to his Highness,
approved of it. Charles the First was impeached
on the 2Oth of January, 1649, an<^ executed on the
3<Dth of the same month. As soon as the news
reached the Hague, the Prince of Wales had himself
proclaimed King of Great Britain and Ireland, under
the title of Charles the Second. When th'e colonists
in Barbados heard of the King's execution Charles the
Second was immediately proclaimed to be their lawful
Sovereign.

These proceedings attracted the attention of the
Royalist party to the colonies. It was considered of
great importance to secure the West India settle-
ments to the crown. Lord Willoughby was con-
sidered particularly qualified to keep the interests of
the King's cause alive in Barbados; with the unani-
mous advice of the Council, he was appointed
Governor of Barbados. After many accidents,
he arrived on the /th of May, 1650, in Carlisle Bay.

74 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Previous to his arrival, the island was not without
factions and intrigues, Governor Bell himself being
suspected by some of the extreme Royalists of being
a Roundhead. Two brothers named Walround, stood
at the head of this party, and through their intrigues,
Colonel Guy Molesworth had been banished from the
island.

The inhabitants of Bermuda had sent an agent to
Barbados to induce them to enter into a league for
mutual protection, and to furnish the Bermudians with
arms and ammunition. Colonel Drax, who favored
Parliament, successfully opposed this plan ; then the
Walround brothers spread a report that the Parlia-
mentarians intended to seize the magazines and put
all who were for the King to the sword. In conse-
quence, Colonels Shelby and Read advanced with
their regiments towards Bridgetown for the purpose
of seizing the Governor, who was fortunately
awakened by the alarm. The Governor called upon
Colonel Modyford to raise the Windward regiment for
the restoration of his authority. Fifteen hundred in-
fantry and one hundred cavalry were raised in one
night. At this juncture of affairs Lord Willoughby
arrived, and gave notice to Governor Bell that he held
a commission from the King and the Earl of Carlisle
appointing him Governor of Barbados and the Car-
ibbee Islands. The first steps taken by him. as soon
as he found himself established in the island, were to
convene the Legislature and acknowledge the sov-
ereignty of the King, and to appoint a committee of
sequestration. Several estates were confiscated, and
heavy fines were laid upon those of the opposite party.
The Council of State were informed of these acts by
refugees that fled to England. Parliament promptly
declared the inhabitants of Barbados traitors to the
Commonwealth, and decided that it was necessary to
reduce their island, for which purpose a well
provided fleet should be sent there. The House

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAKfBBEE ISLANDS. 75

approved of this measure in October, 1650, and Sir
George Ayscue was sent with a large squadron and a
considerable body of troops to Barbados to reduce the
island to obedience.

News of this armament had been brought to Bar-
bados. Lord Willoughby availed himself of the loyal
spirit which was in the ascendency in Barbados, and
not only had the island itself fortified, but raised a
considerable force for its defence, and equipped sev-
eral vessels, with which he compelled the other
islands under his government, to submit to the King's
authority.

The fleet arrived off Barbados on the roth of Octo-
ber, 1651. Three ships anchored before Carlisle Bay
to prevent any vessels from running away to the lee-
ward, there being fourteen sail of vessels at anchor
there. The remainder of the fleet anchored at
Oistin's Bay. In passing Needham's Point, the fleet
was fired at but received no injury.

Captain Pack, with the frigate Amity, captured
eleven Dutch and one English vessel ; he afterwards
captured two more ships laden with provisions and
horses.

When the fleet arrived, Lord Willoughby was at an
entertainment twelve miles back in the country, and
so little were the three vessels suspected, that the
Marshall of the island went off in a boat to see who
the strangers were, and was detained prisoner. When
Lord Willoughby returned to Bridgetown he de-
manded the Marshall's release, which was refused.

Sir George Ayscue sent a summons to surrender
the island to Parliament.

Lord Willoughby responded that he knew no su-
preme authority over Englishmen but the King, whose
commission he held, and for whom he resolved to keep
this island and that he expected an overture for satis-
faction to be given to him for their hostility to the
fleet and his Marshall.

76 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Sir George then commenced bombarding the cas-
tle, but without much effect, and was fired at from
the batteries. Though he had on board the squadron
above two thousand troops, he could not effect a
landing, for Lord Willoughby had made such effective
arrangements, and had disposed the forces under his
command so advantageously along the sea shore, that
Sir George found the enterprise more difficult than he
had expected.

The Council and Assembly promised to support the
Governor, and published on November 4th, 1651, a
declaration in which they set forth their determina-
tion to defend the island in the name of His
Majesty, and to preserve that liberty which they en-
joyed under their constitution. The Commissioners
from Parliament, in the fleet with Sir George, had
previously sent a declaration to the inhabitants, to
persuade them to submit to the Parliament and to
desert Lord Willoughby and his party, in which case
they offered them full indemnity. The counter
declaration from the Legislature was the answer the
Commissioners received.

Finding the Governor and inhabitants obstinate,
Sir George called a council of his officers, the result
of which was a determination to storm the castle and
blockhouse, forthwith. Sixty long-boats were manned
with troops, who entered the bay and commenced
storming the fort, but they met with such a repulse
that they were obliged to make good their retreat.

A third summons to submit to Parliament being
refused, another force was landed on the night of
December i/th, but the Barbadians having notice of
this intended plan, opposed their landing with nine
companies of foot aryd three troops of horse, who
made a gallant charge. Colonel Alleyne, who led the
Parliamentary force, was killed by a musket-ball before
he reached the shore. Lord Willoughby 's forces were
driven back and forced from their intrenchments, and

TO BARBADOS AND TFIE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 77

pursued to Fort Royal, which was stormed arid taken
by the Parliamentarians. Fifty of Lord Willoughby's
men were killed and a hundred taken prisoners ; all
the ordnance was dismounted and many houses
burned. The place being untenable, Sir George with-
drew his troops on board of his fleet.

Colonel Modyford and Lieutenant-Colonel Burch
were the leaders of the moderate party, and intrigues
were carried on between them and the Admiral of the
Parliamentary fleet. A conference was secretly held
in the night on shore with Captain Park, Colonel
Drax and Mr. Raynes, the latter being empowered by
Sir George to offer such conditions as were reasonable.
. On Saturday, the 6th of January, 1652, Colonel
Modyford drew up his regiment, consisting of one
thousand men and one hundred and twenty horse, and
induced them to declare for the Parliament ; the
articles agreed upon were sent to Lord Willoughby,
who refused compliance, and put himself in a state of
defence. Colonel Modyford's house now became the
headquarters of the Parliamentary force, and Sir
George, having been informed of the state of affairs,
arrived on the 8th of January, in the Rainbow,
landed and proclaimed the authority of Parliament.

Lord Willoughby collected a force of three thousand
men and marched against the Parliamentary forces.
It was evident that he did not trust his soldiers, a
great number of whom had already deserted. He
therefore held a council of war with his officers; while
thus occupied, a ball from one of Sir George's great
guns struck the house and carried away the head of
the sentinel who was standing before the room.
During the night, Lord Willoughby fell back two
miles. The three days following,- it rained so hard
that Sir George could not advance against him; and
before they could march, Lord Willoughby sent a
trumpeter with a demand for a treaty, to which Sir
George Ayscue, whose strength was much greater,

78 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

and who desired to avoid the destruction of the island,
which had already suffered so much, consented. The
reason which induced Lord Willoughby to offer terms
of submission was on account of his abandonment
by those from whom he expected powerful support.
It became likewise evident to him that, should he be
taken prisoner, without a treaty, he could expect no
mercy, as he was a deserter from the Parliamentary
forces.

The commissioners appointed to treat from either
side, met on the loth of January, and on the follow-
ing day they signed "The Charter of Barbados," the
articles in which are alike honorable to those who
demanded and those who granted them. Of the
favorable terms secured by the Royalists, Sir George
reported to the Council of State that "there were
some things which we were very unwilling to grant,"
but that one month's war with two armies on foot,
would have utterly ruined the place.

Lord Willoughby, who had been impeached by Par-
liament, and had had his property in England confis-
cated, was, by these articles, restored to all his rights
of person and property, in England, Barbados,
Antigua and Surinam.

All the inhabitants of the island were forgiven for
any acts committed by them during the Civil War,
also, their lands, goods and money which they had in
Barbados, England, Scotland or Ireland were restored
to them, and all trade to be "free with all nations
that do trade with England."

These articles appeared so advantageous and mild
that the inhabitants would have had every reason to
congratulate themselves if they had been held in-
violable. Two months however had not passed after
the signing of the treaty, when the new Legislature
met on the 4th of March, 1652, and passed an Act
requiring Lord Willoughby, by twelve o'clock (noon,)
on Friday, the I2th of March, 1652, to repair on

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 79

board the "Red Lion," then riding at anchor in
Hawley's Bay, which ship was appointed by the
State's Commissioners for him. He was further re-
quired not to land thereafter at Barbados under the
penalty of being proceeded against as an enemy to
the peace of the island, excepting with the Parlia-
ment's leave. Power was given to him to appoint
an attorney for the management of his affairs in the
colony. Another Act was passed on the same day
banishing a number of the principal planters of the
island who had been supporters of Lord Willoughby,
and all acts passed by him for the defence of the
island were repealed.

Colonel Daniel Searle was appointed Governor of
the island; his administration gave general satisfac-
tion, numerous laws were passed, and the island
seemed to recover from the effects of the internal
conflict.

Lord Willoughby (of Parham,) went to his settlement
on the Surinam river in Guiana, which is now the
capitol of Dutch Guiana and known as Paramaribo.
On the accession of Charles the Second to the throne,
Lord Willoughby was restored to the government of
Barbados, under the title of " Captain General and
Governor-in-Chief of the island of Barbados and all
the other Caribbee Islands." Lord Willoughby
appointed Colonel Thomas Walround (his friend and
faithful adherant, who had been banished with him)
his Deputy-Governor.

On the 28th of July, 1666, Lord Willoughby sailed
with seventeen sail and nearly two thousand troops,
and took possession of St. Lucia. On the 4th, of Aug-
ust he sent, three frigates to the Saints to destroy some
French ships which were lying there. Observing
symptoms of an approaching hurricane, he was ex-
tremely anxious for the return of the ships, but the
ship of the officer in command having received some
damages, it could not be refitted before night. At

-80 S TA RK 'S HIS TOR Y A ND G UIDE

6 o'clock in the afternoon, the gale commenced and
continued through the night with the greatest violence.
Every vessel and boat upon the coast of Guadeloupe
and in the Saints was driven ashore, and of the whole
of Lord Willoughby's fleet, only two were ever heard
of afterwards. The whole coast of Guadeloupe was
covered with the wrecks, among which was recog-
nized a figure from the stern of Lord Willoughby's
ship.

On the arrival of the news of Lord Willoughby's
death, the King issued a commission to his brother,
Lord William Willoughby, to be Governor for three
years; he continued in office till April, 1673, when,
owing to ill health, he resigned, and appointed in his
stead, Sir Peter Colleton. He died in England in
1674, having greatly endeared himself to the inhabi-
tants during his administration, by the many important
and beneficial laws which were passed, proving
him to be an effective and upright governor. Thus
ended the reign of the Lords Willoughby in
Barbados. It is acknowledged that the adminis-
tration of these two Lords was prudent, mild and
equitable, and well calculated for the prosperity of
the island.

The most important measure that was adopted
during Lord Willoughby's administration, was that
abolishing of the proprietary form of government in
Barbados, and making a crown colony of the island.
Upon the restoration of the King, there remained to
Lord Willoughby nine years of the lease granted him
by Lord Carlisle, unexpired, and on his application
for a renewal of his commission, it was evident to the
planters that they were still regarded as under the
patent of the Earl of Carlisle, and mere tenants at will.
Notwithstanding the two acts that had been passed
confirming their rights in severalty to their estates,
they considered that their validity might be sooner or
later disputed. It was finally decided that the gov.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARSBBEE ISLANDS. 81

ernment should assume all incumbrances and settle
all claims against the island, that the proprietary
government should be dissolved, and that the planters
should consider themselves as legally confirmed in the
possession of their estates in fee simple. In con-
sideration of this, it was stipulated that the whole
revenue subject to the charge of the Governor's main-
tenance should be. at the disposal of the Crown.
On account of the great charges necessary in effect-
ing tiiis settlement, and the expense incumbent on
the Government in Barbados in maintaing the honor
and dignity of His Majesty's authority, an Act was
passed on the I2th of September, 1663, "for settling
the import of four-and-half per cent, in specie upon all
dead commodities of the growth or produce of the
island that shall be shipped off the same."

This enormous duty fell heavily on the planters of
Barbados for one hundred and seventy-five years ; in
spite of all endeavors during succeeding generations
to relieve themselves of this heavy burden, it was only
repealed in the reign of her present Majesty.

Sir John Atkins was appointed Governor, in 1674,
at a salary of eight hundred pounds per annum; he fixed
his seat of government at Fontabelle. It is considered
that the island reached its greatest prosperity at
this period. When he assumed the government
the population was estimated at 150,000 inhabitants
During nis administration, an insurrection that threat-
ened to ruin the island was fortunately discovered,
and only the adoption of the most enegetic measures
prevented its breaking out. The conspiracy was
planned among the Coromantee negroes and had been
in agitation for nearly three years. Their plan was to
choose Cuffy, a Coromantee negro, for their king, and
by sounding trumpets and gourds and setting the
sugar cane on fire, they intended to give the signal to
their confederates. Their masters were all to be
massacred, and the handsomest of the white women

82 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

were to be reserved for their desires. Anna, a house
servant of Justice Hall, overheard the conversation
from the garden between a young Coromantee and
his comrade, the former refusing to have anything to
do with the plot. Anna prevailed afterwards upon
the young negro to reveal the conspiracy to his mas-
ter, who immediately conveyed information of it to the
governor, who took such energetic measures that the
leaders in the plot were apprehended before their plan
was carried into execution. Seventeen were found
guilty and executed, six being burnt alive and eleven
beheaded; five, who were impeached, hung themselves
before their trial came on.

The rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, the
natural son of Charles the Second, caused a number
of unfortunate persons, implicated, or accused of
being so, to be transported to Barbados and other
West India Islands. These unfortunate men were
treated most inhumanly; on their arrival they were
sold as goods or chattels. Among these unfortunate
men were divines, officers, and gentlemen who were
employed in menial work, "grinding at the mills,
attending the furnaces, and digging in that scorching
island, being bought and sold from one planter to
another, or attached like horses or beasts for the
debt of their masters, being whipped at the whipping
post as rogues, and sleeping in sties worse than hogs
in England."

Oldmixon observes that they were treated with
such rigor that their condition was rendered almost
as bad as that of the negroes.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS, 83

CHAPTER VIII.

WARS WITH FRANCE. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

The revolution of 1688 caused the flight of James
the Second to France, and William and Mary came to
the throne; when the information of these occurrences
arrived in the West Indies, the French, who were the
protectors of the Stuarts, commenced hostile proceed-
ings against the English settlers in St. Kitts. They
were joined by some Irish Roman Catholics, and com-
mitted the greatest cruelties, not only in St. Kitts,
but likewise in the adjacent islands. A party of
Irish landed at Anguilla and treated the defenceless
inhabitants most barbarously. Oldmixon, in his
ancient chronicle, says: "These wretches of Wild
Irish, thinking it impossible for men to be poorer than
themselves, took away from the miserable inhabitants
even the little they seemed to have ; drove the peace-
ful toilers of the sea from the island, and occupied
their settlement." They enjoyed, for a time at least,
all the privileges of home rule, and spent their time
fighting among themselves until England assumed
the direction of their affairs. This being the state of
affairs in the West Indies, the Barbadians began to
fear for their own safety; and when General Codring-
ton, who had been appointed Governor of the Lee-
ward Islands, applied to Barbados for assistance, the
Assembly decided to give all the help they could.
Sir Timothy Thornhill volunteered to lead an expedi-
tion tor their relief. He was authorized to raise a

84 S TA RK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

regiment, which was done in less than two weeks, and
equipped at the public expense. It sailed from
Carlisle Bay on the 1st of August, 1689, and arrived
at Antigua on the 5th, and was there joined by General
Codrington's forces.

St. Bartholomew's was first attacked and captured,
and seven hundred prisoners taken. The town of
Basseterre and the island of St. Kitts were next taken
after a desperate resistance on the part of the French.
St. Eustatia surrendered after a five day's siege, and
Anguilla re-captured.

Sir Timothy Thornhill then returned with his regi-
ment to Barbados, with the satisfaction of knowing
that he and his troops had mainly contributed to the
success of the British arms. On the 2nd of August,
1692, the Legislature voted him its thanks for his
gallant service, and gave him, as a present, one
thousand pounds.

This year a fearful contagion, probably yellow fever,
brought on the slave ships from Africa, made its
appearance. The mortality among the inhabitants
was very great; many of the crews, both of men-of-war
and merchantmen, died off completely. The great
distress this caused on the island, and the decrease in
the number of the whites in consequence of the fear-
ful epidemic, encouraged the slaves to form a new
conspiracy. A day was appointed for a general revolt,
the Governor was to be massacred, the magazine with
its stores to be seized, and the forts to be surprised.
The project was nearly ripe for execution when it was
fortunately discovered. Two of the leaders were
overheard and instantly arrested; they refused to
reveal their confederates, and rather submitted to be
hung in chain for four days without food or drink.
Their courage, however, at last gave way, and upon a
promise of a free pardon, they confessed who their
accomplices were. It was said the projected insur-
rection was instigated by French emissaries from
Martinique.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 85

In 1693, a new expedition was send against the
French ; Barbados furnished and equipped two regi-
ments, and gave the command to Colonels Salter and
Boteler. The expense of this undertaking amounted
to thirty thousand pounds, which was a heavy
burden for so small a community. The squadron
was under the command of Sir Francis Wheeler,
with fifteen hundred troops from England under
Colonel Foulk. Colonel Codrington, with Lloyd's
regiment arid a body of troops from Antigua and the
other Leeward islands, joined the fleet. An attack
was made on St. Pierre, Martinique, in which the
Barbadians distinguished themselves; but when suc-
cess seemed certain, the troops received orders to re-
embark. The fever which prevailed to a fearful
extent among the troops was given as the reason of
the ill success; but it was said that many of the officers
being Irish Roman Catholics, dissatisfaction among
the commanders was really the chief cause of the
failure.*

On the 4th of May, 1702, Queen Anne declared war
against France and Spain. Commodore Walker was
despatched to Barbados with six ships of the line,
having four regiments on board, the latter being billeted
on the inhabitants.

Barbados entered into schemes of privateering, and
many vessels were fitted out to act against
the French. Sixteen of them meeting together near
Guadeloupe, the men landed on the island, burnt a
great part of the estates at the west end of it, and
carried off a large number of negroes.

The slaves made another attempt this year to
throw off their yoke. It was their intention to seize
the forts and to burn Bridgetown ; the plot was dis-
covered, and many of the leaders executed.

In 1761, the British ministry planned to an-
nihilate the power of France in the West Indies.

*Schomburgh's History of Barbados, pp. 306.

86 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

A regiment was raised in Barbados under the com
mand of Sir John Yeamans, and these troops joined
General Monckton's forces. Upon the 5th of
January, 1762, Admiral Rodney, with eighteen sail of
the line, besides frigates, bombs and transports, and
Monckton's force of nearly fourteen thousand men
sailed from Barbados and anchored on the 8th in St.
Anne's Bay in Martinique.

On the I4th of February, that island finally sur-
rendered. The expense of raising and equipping the
corps of Barbadians amounted to ,£24,000. Besides
the troops, the island had sent a large supply of pro-
visions to the army while it was besieging Mar-
tinique. The House of Commons in England voted
,£ 1 0,000 as a compensation to the Government of
Barbados for the assistance it had rendered in this
expedition.

The success of the British arms produced, in 1765,
friendly relations between the contending powers;
but Martinique and Guadeloupe were restored to
France.

The unfortunate measure of the British ministry,
imposing the unconstitutional Stamp Act on the col-
onies of America, excited in Barbados the greatest
astonishment ; nevertheless, his Majesty's loyal
subjects in this island submitted to it. Not so
in the island of St. Kitts, where the inhabitants, in-
stigated by the crews of some vessels from New
England, burnt all the stamped papers upon the island,
and obliged the officers appointed for their distribu-
tion to resign their offices. They then went over, in
a body, to Nevis to assist their neighbors in taking
the same rebellious proceedings. The inhabitants of
Barbados remonstrated against a measure evidently
so pernicious, and the government was obliged to
abandon the project. During the few months it was
in force, £2,500 were collected at Barbados and re-
mitted to England.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARTBBEE ISLANDS. 87

The unfortunate dissentions between the colonies
and the mother country, produced most disasterous
results in the West Indies, as these colonies depended
for supplies upon the continent of North America.
When the rupture took place, the Barbadians found
that their stock of provisions was estimated at
scarcely six week's consumption. Captain Payne
arrived at that time from Boston, for the purpose of
purchasing provisions for the British troops who were
besieged in Boston by Washington's army, and were
in distress for want of arrivals from Europe. The
Governor gave him permission to purchase the
requisite provisions ; a step which raised the greatest
complaints among the populace. It was prohibited
by the Assembly, who sent an address to the King
professing their loyalty and attachment to the throne
and beseeching his Majesty to relieve the prevailing
misery and distress by timely assistance. The mem-
orial stated that the island had eighty thousand black
and twelve thousand white inhabitants to support.
The petition for relief to the British ministry was
heard in 1778, and the government sent three thous-
and barrels of flour, three thousand barrels of her-
rings, and a large quantity of peas and beans, with
direction to sell them at cost. The Barbadian Gov-
ernment sent an address to the King expressing their
gratitude for this acceptable relief.

The numerous American privateers which now
infested these seas materially injured the trade of the
islands; one ventured by night into Speight's Bay,
where on discovery, he was fired at from Orange
Fort and forced to withdraw. Another privateer
captured several fishing boats with many slaves aboard.
France having recognized the independence of the
United States, war was again declared against that
country. These stirring times awakened the old
chivalric spirit which so eminently distinguished the
Barbadians of a century before. A descendant of the

88 x STARK'S HISTVRY AND GUIDE

brave Sir Timothy Thornhill, who bore his name>
having raised and equipped a company of infantry at his
own expense, it did effiicent service under Gen-
eral Vaughan at St. Lucia and Antigua. In this war
the Barbadian troops as usual distinguished them-
selves by their bravery.

The peace with France was of but short duration;
hostilities commenced early in 1803, letters of marque
and reprisal were granted against the French and
Batavian Republics. The first Cousul was at that
time too seriously occupied in subjugating the insur-
gent slaves in Hayti to be in a condition to form
schemes for invading the British colonies. England
therefore took the offensive, and Commodore Hood
with General Grinfield sailed on the iQth of June
from Carlisle Bay to attack the French and Dutch
possessions; where the greatest success crowned their
endeavors. The colonies of St. Lucia, Tobago,
Demeraraand Berbice were successfully reduced, and
fell into their hands without any great loss. Sir
Samuel Hood reported on the 2Oth of November that
since the breaking out of hostilities he had captured
thirty-nine vessels, six of which were vessels of war.
Among the prizes was the famous French privateer
schooner L' Harmonic, which had been more destruc-
tive than any other that had appeared in the West
Indies.

Napoleon sent Admiral Missiessy in 1805 with a
squadron of five sail of the line, three frigates, two
brigs, and transports with four thousand troops, under
the command of LaGrange, to the West Indies.
They arrived on the 2Oth of February in Martinique.
When information of the arrival of this formidable
armament in the Caribbean sea reached Barbados, it
excited the greatest apprehensions in the inhabitants,
and it was deemed necessary to adopt the strongest
measures to guard this island against surprise.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 89>

The French squadron first made a descent upon
Dominica; and having levied a contribution upon the
merchants of Rosean, next went to St. Kitts where
they arrived on the 5th of March and soon effected
a landing. They exa.cted from the colonists ^"16,000
in currency and ;£ 10,000 sterling, in a bill which was
negotiated by an American merchant resident of
St. Kitts. From thence they proceeded to Nevis and
Montserrat, both of which were laid under contribu-
tion and the ships in the harbor destroyed.

When the news of the descent of these freebooters
upon these islands became known in Barbados, the
inhabitants feared that a similar fate might await
them. The arrival of Admiral Cochrane on the 3rd
of April with a naval reinforcement, was therefore
hailed with the greatest delight.

Another French fleet of eleven sail of the line, six
frigates and two corvetts, under the command of
Admiral Villieneuve, left the harbor of Toulon on the
3Oth of March and entered Fort Royal in Martinique
on the I4th of May.

Lord Nelson in the Victory, with the fleet under his-
command, arrived at Barbados on the 4th of June,
1805, where he joined Admiral Corchrane.

About this time information was received that
Diamond Rock (previously mentioned in the chapter
on Martinique) commanded by Captain Maurice had
capitulated on condition that the garrison should
be allowed to march to the Queen's Battery on the
northerly slope of the rock, with drums beating and
colors flying, and there lay down their arms. The
troops stipulated to be sent to Barbados at the expense
of the French government, but not to serve again until
regularly exchanged. The garrison consisting of one
hundred and eighty men including Captain Maurice
and two officers, were consequently embarked on
board La Fein and arrived at Barbados on the 6th of
June. They had bravely defended themselves for

90 START'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

three days against a squadron consisting of two sail of
the line, one frigate, one brig, a schooner and eleven
gunboats, manned by fifteen hundred men. Want of
ammunition and water obliged them to surrender on
the 2nd of June. A court martial was held on the
"Circe" in Carlisle Bay on the 24th of June for the trial
of Captain Maurice, the officers and crew of his
Majesty's late "sloop Diamond Rock." They were
honorably acquitted and highly commended for their
spirited defence of the rock. This great conquest
was the only achievement of the combined French
and Spanish fleet in the West Indies this year.

The news of Lord Nelson's great victory at Tra-
falgar over the combined fleets of France and Spain
on the 2 ist of October 1805, and his death in the
action, reached Barbados on the 2Oth of December.
The 23rd of the month was dedicated to the celebra-
tion of the victory by a brilliant illumination in
Bridgetown, and a funeral sermon on the death of
the hero was preached on the ensuing 5th of Jan-
uary in St. Michael's church. A general mourning was
observed by the inhabitants of the island, and a sub
scription was made for the purpose of erecting
a monument to Nelson's memory which was erected
in Bridgetown. On October 8th, 1809, Lieutenant-
General George Beckwith \vas appointed Governor
and Commander-in-chief of the island of Barbados,
which gave general satisfaction.

War vessels with a great reinforcement of troops
arrived on the 2Qth of December 1808, and forming a
part of the grand army which assembled under the
command of Governor Beckwith, for the purpose of
reducing those of the West Indies islands which
were still in possession of the French. The naval
force was under the command of Admiral Corchrane.
The expedition embarked on the 28th of January
1809, and arrived off Martinique the following day.
After a five days seige the island capitulated. The

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 91

gratifying news was received in Bridgetown with
demonstrations of joy, and a brilliant illumination of
the town. The enemy's squadron having taken
shelter in the Saints, General Maitland with a corps
of three thousand men, was sent to co-operate with
the navy under Sir Alexander Corchrane in the
reduction of those islands. The forts were captured
and the troops surrendered, but the French squadron
escaped.

On the 22nd of January 1810 the army under Sir
George Beckwith sailed from Martinique for the
reduction of Guadaloupe, the last stronghold of the
French in the West Indies and the South American
coast. The island was in possession of the English
within nine days after the landing of the first division.
The French lost six hundred in killed and wounded and
sixteen hundred prisoners, besides eight hundred
dispersed about the country. St. Martins surren-
dered on the 1 6th of February, St. Eustatius capitu-
lated on the 22nd, and Saba on the same day. The
capture of these small islands was of little importance
in itself,, but it accomplished the final expulsion of the
French flag from the West Indian archipelago. The
value of these inlands to France, and the depredations
on the British commerce made by swarms of priva-
teers which were fitted out or found protection there,
rendered their conquest one of the most important
measure effected during that year; while another
circumstance although not of primary importance
rendered their conquest desirable, namely the uncer-
tain position of affairs in 1809 between the United
States and England : for in case of a rupture, these
islands in the hands of France would have rendered
a combination for the conquest of the British
possessions not only probable but successful. Mar-
tinique and Guaduloupe in the hands of an enemy
were dangerous neighbors to Barbados, and the
rejoicings of the inhabitants at their conquest was

92 START'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

therefore natural, not only as a success of the
British arms but likewise as removing appre-
hensions which were not unfounded. War was de-
clared by the United States against Great Britain on
the 1 8th of June 1812; scarcely had it been announced
when swarms of American privateers spread over
the West Indian seas. Thirty had sailed the day
following its announcement. These privateers almost
annihilated the commerce of the British islands in
these seas; several were cruising in the vicinity of
Barbados and captured the mail boats; and scarcely
a vessel reached its ports without being boarded by
Americans, or if left to proceed, without heavy con-
tributions being exacted. The 'Townsbend packet' had
an engagement with two American schooners, the
'Tom' and 'Bony,' for three hours, within sight of
Barbados; and was ultimately obliged to surrender,
having previously thrown the mail bags overboard.
She was relieved after the passengers had made some
agreement for ransom. Another mail boat, the "Lap-
wing," was taken by the American privateer " Fox"
within sight of the island, off the Crane. Many
witnesses from the island observed the privateer in
chase of a brig maintaining a running fight, until
they approached land abreast of the Crane, where
the brig vainly made several tacks inshore to avoid
her pursuer ; but towards dusk the vessels were
alongside of each other, and the brig was taken.

Nearly every colony adopted some measures
of defence against privateers. The beautiful private
armed schooner " Louisa," mounting eight nine-
pound carronades and a long nine pounder on a
traverse, with a complement of one hundred men left
Carlisle Bay on the Qth of January 1813, and did
good service in protecting the commerce of the
island. The merchants of Barbados also purchased
a brig called " The Brave," which had been captured

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 93

from the enemy, and offered her to his Majesty's ser-
vice to be employed on the island station under the
name of the Barbados frigate. In eighteen months
she captured the French privateer Napoleon of
eighteen guns and one hundred and eighty men;
L'Heuruex, of twelve guns and ninety men; La
Desire'e of fourteen guns and ninety men; a valuable
ship from Cayenne; and a Spanish brig: and .recap-
tured an English Guineaman and an American ship.
The Barbados captured the American privateer Fox,
of five guns and seventy men, off Auguilla; which gave
great satisfaction to the inhabitants of Barbados, as
she was the privateer that had previously cut out the
mail packet Lapwing in sight of the island.

The treaty of peace between England and the
United States was ratified by President Madison on
the 1 8th of February 1815; this news was hailed
with delight in Barbados, for the war had entailed
great losses and an enormous expenditure on both
countries. It subjected Barbados to great incon-
venience, as she depended at that period much more
upon foreign importation than upon her own resources
for the sustenance of her laboring population.

The island was destined to enjoy scarcely one
year of peace before it was plunged into the horrors
of a negro insurrection. On an estate tKen called
Franklyn's, —since known as the Vineyard— there lived
a free colored man named Washington Franklin, a
person of loose morals and debauched habits, but
superior to those with whom he intimately associated.
To him was afterwards distinctly traced the practice
of reading and discussing before the slave population
those violent speeches which were at that period
delivered against slavery in the mother country.
There is no doubt that he conceived and planned
the outbreak that spread such desolation over the
island. He artfully disseminated the report among
the negroes that on Christmas day 1815, or at latest

94 STAKES HISTORY AND GUIDE

on the succeeding New Year's day, a period would be
put to their slavery; and being disappointed, it was
given out that the owners prevented this. Distorted
accounts of the insurrection of the negroes in Hayti
were related, as worthy of imitation and as exhibiting
a prospect of those rights which were unjustly with-
held.

At eight o'clock in the evening on Easter Sunday,
1 4th of April 1816, a heap of cane-trash was fired
on Bayley's plantation, as the signal of revolt ;
it was promptly repeated by the setting on fire the
trash-heaps and cane fields on every estate in the
upper part of the parish of St. Philip. The fearful
reality now burst upon the white inhabitants, and
they were awakened to the peril of their situation.
The storm burst upon them wholly unprepared for
such an event. The fire spread during the whole
night from field to field, from one estate to another;
a long night of horror and uncertainty was at last
succeeded by day, and the first gleam of light dis-
covered fresh indication of revolt. " Mill after mill
on the revolted estates was turned into the wind to
fly unbended, and bell after bell was rung to an-
nounce that the slaves of such plantation had joined
in the revolt. The rebellious mob increased at every
step as it 'advanced \ on arriving at the residence of
a Mr. Bayne, who kept a store of dry goods and hard-
ware, the slaves broke into the it and armed them-
selves with bills, axes, cutlasses and whatever edged
instrument they could lay hold of, and then proceeded
with increased boldness to the plantations of Harrow,
Busby Park, Oughterson's, the Thicket, Three
Houses, and the Grove, committing every kind of
outrage on the estates on their way.

The earliest news of the outbreak reached Bridge-
town on Monday morning between one and two
o'clock; the island was immediately placed under
martial law, and the troops called to arms. The

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 95

militia was placed under the command of Colonel
Codd, and the regular troops under Colonel Mayers;
and between eight and nine o'clock Monday morning
they commenced their march towards the parish of
St. Philip. The Christ Church battallion of militia
assembled first at Fairy Valley, and the first opposi-
tion was made to the progress of the rebels by a
detachment of that corps, which about noon met a
large body of the insurgents at Lowther's yard.
Several were armed with muskets, and they displayed
the colors of the St. Philip's battalion which they had
stolen. The rebels dared the militia to "come on ;"
they were, however, quickly dispersed, but not with-
out bloodshed on their side. The regulars, in con-
junction with the militia, advanced rapidly toward
the parish of St. Philip, which suffered most, as the
inhabitants had been unfortunately prevented by
the general and simultaneous rising of the slaves
from uniting for their own defence. Thence the
insurrection had spread into the adjourning parishes
of St. John and St. George. The first body of the
insurgents were met at Sand.ford plantation in St.
Philip's, but it dispersed as soon as fired upon.
A soldier was shot from one of the negro houses
wherein most of the slaves had hidden themselves.
The military were soon in possession of the whole
parish. Some negro houses were burnt on the fol-
lowing day ; by the evening, however, the insurrection
may be said to have been subdued.

The negroes implicated in this outbreak were tried
by court martial ; upon full evidence of their guilt,
several were convicted, and the sentence of death
was carried into effect on the plantation to which
the offenders belonged. Upwards of four hundred
prisoners were sent on board of ships in the bay.
One hundred and twenty-three were convicted and
sent to Honduras on the ship "Francis and Mary"
on the 25th of January 1817, where they were dis-

-96 STA RK'S HISTOR Y AND GUIDE

posed of according to their crimes ; and thus ended
the slave insurrection.

The struggle for liberty in the former Spanish
territories in South America and the concentration
of lawless characters who profited by it, caused the
Mexican and Caribbean sea to swarm with pirates,
who, under the Spanish or Columbian colors, com-
mitted every outrage on the vessels of European
nations. The United States and England sent
several powerful squadrons to protect their trade
and citizens especially near Cuba, where the pirates
gathered on its coast, were in most instances
the crews of vessels formerly employed in the
African slave trade and comprised the refuse of
all countries. These outlaws committed the great-
est cruelties upon the merchantmen of all nations ;
a state of affairs which continued for ten years
before the Caribbean Sea was entirely free from such
depredations.

The several attempts which had been made during
previous years, by the free colored and free black inhab-
itants of the island, to obtain a repeal of various acts
which continued their political disabilities, had been
hitherto fruitless. Mr. Robert Haynes, member for
St. John's parish, introduced on the 22nd of Febru-
ary 1 83 1 , a bill into the House of Assembly, the object
of which was to remove these disabilities. It passed
the House on the 28th of March, only four mem-
bers voting against it. This act conferred upon
the colored class the same rights as those possessed
by the white inhabitants, to elect, or be elected mem-
bers of the House of Assembly, vestrymen, or to
serve as jurors to try real actions, provided such
individuals should have the necessary qualifications
of age and the possession of the stipulated free-hold
or other property. An act was also passed relieving
the political disabilities of His Majesty's subjects in
Barbados professing the Jewish religion. Both of

TO BARBADOS A.VD THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 07

these acts subsequently received the King's sanction.
Having now arrived at a period when slavery was
forever banished from the British dominion, and nearly
eight hundred thousand human beings were released
from bondage, it will be well to say a few words on
this most important subject. Among the numerous
benevolent individuals who so early as the seven-
teenth century raised their voices against the iniquity
of the slave trade, was George Fox, the founder of
the Society of Quakers or Friends. Their efforts
became more decided, when Mr. Granville Sharp
with infinite difficulty had established the right of
slaves to their freedom on coming to England. Lord
Mansfield declared on the 22nd of June 1772, in the
name of the whole bench, that slavery could not
exist upon the soil of England. Public attention was
then strongly attracted to this question, and great
and laudable efforts were made to procure the aboli-
tion of the slave trade. On the i8th of April 1791,
Mr. Wilberforce moved in the House of Commons,
a resolution that all further importation of slaves
should be prevented, The motion was lost, but it
did not prevent him from renewing it at almost every
succeeding session. The opposition to the measure
in 1805 aroused the indignation of the British people,
so the Government now took the initiative step in
the great act. An Order of his Majesty in Council
interdicted the importation of slaves into British
colonies. The united claims of justice and humanity
triumphed ultimately over every opposition, and an
imperial act dated the 25th of March 1807 decreed
the prohibition of the slave trade under heavy penal-
ties, offering bounties to those who should be instru-
mental in detecting transgression against it. This
was the first serious blow struck against slavery.
Although at that early period the debates did not
breathe a thought that the promoters of the question
intended to undermine the whole fabric; it must have

98. STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

been evident from that moment that slavery could
not remain permanently. The two evils were so
closely connected that the defeat of the first involved
the ultimate destruction of the latter.

In the year 1814, after the peace, Great Britain
endeavored to obtain the consent of France, Spain,
Portugal and the United States to the abolition of
the slave trade. The party advocating the entire
abolition of slavery in the British dominions had
meanwhile grown stronger. Missionaries in connec-
tion with the philanthropical societies were sent to
the West Indies, who reported on the state of the
colonies, not in all instances in the pure sense of
charity. Mr. Wilberforce, now far advanced in age,
was succeeded by Thomas F. Buxton as the great
champion of the cause in the House of Commons.
Mr. Buxton brought forward a resolution in March,
1823, "declaring that slavery was repugnant to the
principles of the British Constitution and of the
Christian religion, and that it ought to be gradually
abolished throughout the British dominion." The
motion was rejected in the House, and in order to
allay the feelings of the nation at this defeat, one of
a similar nature was substituted by Mr. Canning
and ultimately adopted. The resolutions were cau-
tiously worded ; nevertheless they in the most distinct
terms recognized the principle that Parliament ought
to aid in the extinction of slavery.

It was an epoch in the history of this great meas-
ure ; it was the first time that the abolition of slavery
was mentioned in the House of Parliament on the
authority of the Ministers ; and this proceeding
now led to decided steps on their part, and they
recommended to the colonial legislatures the ameliora-
tion of the condition of the slaves. This recommenda-
tion was received by the masters with indignation, as
an infringement of their rights ; and it was denounced
as an attempt of the British Parliament to legislate for

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 99

the colonies, a right which the colonies with separate
legislatures did not recognize so far as this affair of in-
ternal policy was concerned. The imperial Parliament
wisely forbore to press its claims, or to interfere further
with the colonial Assemblies at that period.

Left to themselves the colonies exerted themselves
to render the state of the slaves more comfortable.
The slave laws of Barbados had been consolidated
as early as 1817, and an association was formed in
1823 for the purpose of affording religious instruc-
tion to the slaves. Eight thousand negroes received
religious instruction through the instrumentality
of this association, which numbered among its
members, the Governor, the clergy and the most
respectable part of the inhabitants. Nor was this
action restricted to Barbados, but in the other
colonies progressive improvements were adopted,
such as might prepare the slave for a future partici-
pation in civil rights and privileges.

The persistent anti-slavery agitation in England,
together with the constant dread of a negro insurrec-
tion, and the fact that commerce was subjected to the
depredations of lawless pirates, whose depredations
raised the insurance to the rates prevailing in war
times, combined to depress the value of property in the
British West In'dies at this time at least forty per cent.

The year 1833 brought at last the decision that
slavery should cease at a determined period. This
great result was accomplished without the loss of a
single life, or the firing of a gun, or a disturbance of any
kind. The bill was introduced by Mr. Stanley, after-
wards Lord Stanley, at that time Secretary for the
Colonies ; it passed the House of Lords on the igth
of August 1833 and receiving his Majesty's sanction,
was made known by the King's proclamation
dated September 4th, 1833. Mr. Wilberforce, the
great advocate of suffering mankind, lived to hear of
the gratifying progress which the measure for the

100 STARK 'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

entire abolition of slavery had made in the imperial
Parliament, and died on the 2Qth of July 1833 in his
seventy-fourth year, a few days before Mr. Stanley's
bill passed the House of Commons.

This bill enacted that from the ist of August,
1834 all persons who should then be duly registered
as slaves, and be of the full age of six years and up-
wards, should become apprenticed laborers in the
service of the person previously entitled to their ser-
vices as slaves. The apprenticeship of such laborers
as had previously served as domestics, trades-
men, mechanics etc., was to cease on the ist of
August 1838 ; and of such as were attached to the
cultivation of the soil and manufacturing of sugar, on
the ist of August 1840. It was further declared
that on the ist of August 1834, slavery should be
abolished and unlawful throughout the colonies. The
Act decreed that a sum of twenty million pounds
sterling should be granted as a compensation to the
owners of the slaves, which amount was to be dis-
tributed and apportioned by a commission of arbitra-
tion. Of this sum ,£1,721,345 IQS. 6d. sterling fell
to the share of Barbados.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAKIBBEE ISLANDS. 101

CHAPTER IX.

INHABITANTS, WHITES, COLORED AND NEGROES.

The whites form the governing race in Barbados,
nearly the entire wealth and business of the islands
being in their hands, although they form at the present
time but a small and constantly decreasing fraction
of the whole population of the island, for out of a
total population of about 200,000 there are only about
15,000 whites, 50,000 colored or mixed, and 135,000
negroes.

When the English settlers colonized this place,
they changed their sky, but not their characteristics ;
they brought with them the obstinate tenacity of
purpose, dogged perseverance, and untiring energy
of their race, and turned this island into a garden.
They brought with them, too, that love of freedom
and sturdy independence that characterized the New
England settlers, their friends and relatives.

Henry Winthrop, the son of John Winthrop, the
great Puritan Governor, came here with the first band
of settlers under Captain Powell, three years before
his illustrious father founded the town of Boston and
Massachusetts Colony, These were the men who
colonized Barbados ; such for the most part their
sons remain, still Englishmen, though their fathers
for several generations may have been born on
the island ; and for this reason they are still, and
must remain, the governing class. Many families

100 102 STARK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

have altogether left the colony, probably retiring to
England, and thus of the old names a great number
are now missing. Members again of other old
families have come to grief from one cause or another,
and their descendants are now living in humble
positions, or have emigrated to other islands, or to the
United States. These early settlers were the uncon-
scious pioneers of all the wealth and commerce and
beauty and science, which has in latter centuries
made this lovely isle the richest gem of all the tropic
seas.

The poor whites occupy relatively the same
position in Barbados that the "crackers" do in
the Southern States. They are the descendants
of convicts, or of prisoners taken in the civil wars
in England during the Commonwealth, and the
Duke of Monmouth's rebellion. Many of the political
prisoners were English gentlemen, royalist officers,
or divines, sent here and sold as slaves for a term of
years.

The officials of that day was not so particular
as they might have been, and did not always take
the trouble to make sure whether these gentlemen
were active royalists after the execution of the King
or not, and the petition of several of them to the
home government seems to show that little inquiry was
made. The more that there were of these unfortunates
to be sold as plantation slaves the better it was for
the pockets of the public officials who had charge of
their transportation and sale ; and so royalist gentlemen
changed hands quickly at the rate of fifteen hundred
pounds of sugar per man. When such treatment was
meted out to English gentlemen, what wonder that
thousands of Irish, men and women, were sent here
by Cromwell and sold into slavery, leaving their
descendants to lead a miserable existence, not fit to
work, but not ashamed to beg. The memory of
these things has passed away in England and is

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 103

even lost in Barbados, where the contemptuous name
given by the Ulster settlers to the bare legged native
Irish, sticks to their descendants today, although it
has lost all meaning to the Barbadian, who do not
know why he calls another, or is styled himself, a
44 Red-leg ; " a curious instance of the persistence of a
name notwithstanding the loss of its signification.
It is said in Ireland that the cry of Cromwell's
Puritan troopers when "harrying the Irish " was "To
Hell with them, or to Connaught," Having fairly
filled the latter province, and pious troopers as they
were, not being familiar with the route of the other
locality, they determined to send them to the next
hottest place they knew of, and so shipped them be-
tween decks to Barbados. These things are still
remembered in Ireland, for the bitterest invocation
that an Irish peasant can call down on the head of
an enemy today is embodied in "The curse o' Crum-
mel on ye."

If Cromwell sent the native Irish to Barbados to
prevent their making trouble in Ireland, he only suc-
ceeded in changing the scene of their operations,
judging by the two following proclamations copied
from the original records of the Council and House
of Assembly of Barbados.

" Governor's Proculamation for Disarming the Irish."

" My selfe and Councill havinge taken into consideration
ye considerable nomber of Irish freeman and servants within
this Island and the Dangerous consequences (in this
juncture of tyme of Wars betwixte the Commonwealth of
Ingland and Spaine, both in Europe & heere in America)
that may ensue to this place upon the appearence of an
Enemy, if the Irish & such others as are of the Romish
Religion should be permitted to have any sorte of Armes

or Ammunition within their houses or Custodye

Therefore in the name of his Highness Oliver, Lord Pro-
tector of the Commonwealth of Ingland, etc."

" Signed Danyell Searles."

104 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

"Governor's Proclamation, 22 Sept. 1657."
" Whereas itt hath of Late binn taken notice that several]
of the Irish nation ffreemen and women who have now
Certain place of residence and others of them doe wander
up and down from plantation to plantation as vagabonds
refusinge to Labour or to put themselves into any Service,
but continuing in a dissolute, lewd and sloathful kind of
life, putt themselves on evill practises as pilferinges, thefts,
roberyes and felonious Acts for their subsistency and indeav-
ourd by there example and persuations to draw Servants
unto them of sd Nation to the same kind of Idle and

Wicked courses Therefore in the name of his

Higness the Lorde Protector, etc."

" Signed Danyell Searles."

Ligon informs us that when he visited Barbados
in 1647 there were 50,000 whites and more than
double that number of negroes there, which is prob-
ably an exaggeration. He says, " The island is divided
into three sorts of men, viz., Masters, Servants and
Slaves. The slaves and their prosterity being sub-
ject to their Masters forever are kept and preserved
with greater care than their servants, who are theirs
but for five years according to the laws of the Island.
Truly, I have seen such cruelty done to Servants, as
I did not think one Christian could have done to
another. Upon the arrival of any ship that brings
servants to the Island, the Planters go aboard ; and
having bought such of them as they like, send them
with a guide to his Plantation, and being come, com-
mands them instantly to make their cabins, which
are made of sticks, withs and plantine leaves. The
next day they are rung out with a Bell to work at
six o'clock in the morning, with a severe Overseer
to command them, till the bell rings again, which is
at eleven o'clock, after dinner at one o'clock they are
rung out again to the field there to work till six.
When the negroes are brought to us, the Planters
buy them out of the ship, where they find them naked.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 105-

They choose them as they do horses in a market, the
strongest and most beautiful and youthful, yield the
greatest price. Thirty pound sterling is a price for
the best rqan Negro, and twenty five for a woman ;
the children are at easier rates. As for the Indians,
we have but a few, and those fetched from other
Countries, some from the neighboring Islands, some
from the Main, which we make slaves, the women are
used in making the Cassavie and bread in which they
are better versed than the Negroes, the men we use
for footmen and killing of fish, which they are good
at ; with their own bows, and arrows they will go outr
and in a day's time kill as much fish as will serve a
family of a dozen persons for two or three days.
They are very active men and apt to learn anything
sooner than the Negroes, and as different from them
in shape almost as in color. We had an Indian
woman, a slave, in the house, who was of excellent
shape, and color of a pure, bright bay, who would not
be moved by any means to wear clothes. This In-
dian dwelling upon the Sea-coast, upon the Main, an.
English ship put into a Bay, and sent some of her
men ashore, to try what victuals or water they could
find. But the Indians perceiving them to go far into-
the Country, interrupted them in their return and
fell upon them chasing them into a wood, some were
killed and some taken, but a young man amongst
them straggling from the rest, was met by this In-
dian maid, who upon the first sight fell in love with
him, and hid him close from her Countrymen, in a
cave and there fed him, till he could safely go down
to the shore, where the ship lay at anchor, expecting
the return of their friends. Seeing them upon the
shore they sent the long boat for them, took them
aboard and brought them away. But the youth, when
he came aboard at Barbados, forgot the kindness of
the poor maid, that had ventured her life for his
safety, and sold ner for a slave, who was as free born
as he. And so poor Yarico for her love, lost her

106 STARK' S HISTORY AN^D GUIDE

liberty." A large pond on the Kendal plantation is
to this day called Yarico's Pond, the place where
Ligon first met the unfortunate Indian girl.

During the civil war in Barbados, the negroes seem
to have made as much trouble for the planters as the
Irish did, for at the same time that Governor Searle
issued his proclamation against the Irish, the Coun-
cil passed the following order concerning the negroes.

" Commission for ye Generall Hunting of Negroes."

"The Councill and Gent of the Assemblye taking into
consideration the grate nomber.of Negroes that are out in
Rebellion committing murthers, Roberies and Divers other
mischeifes to many of the inhabitants of this Island desired
the Rtt Hon. the Governor that he would pleased to Issue
Commissions for a generall huntinge of the sd Negroes
through the Island upon a Certain Daye to be by him
appointed, to the ende such, evils may for the future bee
prevented and the Island preserv'd in peace and tran-
quility. Sept. 23, 1657."

Most of the inhabitants of Barbados are black ;
the colored people, by which name the Mulattoes,
•Quadroons and Octoroons are known in the West
Indies, shade off from brown to copper-color
and then to a sickly yellow. The copper-colored
or "red people," as they are called, here have the
advantage over the pure negro in good looks,
having probably some Indian blood, as many Indians
were sent here in the early days and sold into
slavery. These people have often stalwart and stately
figures. When young, and while their faces preserve
the roundness of youth, the colored people are fairly
good looking ; but men and women, especially the
latter, age very quickly, so that a handsome colored
woman of over thirty years of age is hard to find, and
as to a handsome negro or negress one would be a
veritable "black swan."

There is no doubt that the continued prosperity of

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 107

Barbados since the emancipation of the slaves is
owing to the density of the black and colored popula-
tion. The population of Barbados is nearly 1,200 to the
square mile, it being the most densely populated place
in the world. In Jamaica and other West Indian
islands, wherever on emancipation the newly ransomed
slave could " squat " on unappropriated fertile land, he
did so. Prefering the unlimited enjoyment of his
ease to any dignity he saw associated with labor,
strongly suspecting that the West Indies had not
been included in the primal curse, and being certain
that without any sweat of his brow he could eat
things to him sweeter than bread, he struck against
work, and contented himself with doing no more than
the very little that was necessary to support life and to
buy himself a scanty amount of clothing. Thus great
tracts of fertile land were allowed to go out of culti-
vation, every plantation which was permitted to run to
waste increasing the area open to the squatter, who
indeed naturally preferred to settle upon land that
had been lately tilled, and where fruit trees were
already flourishing, rather than to make his own Eden
on fresh and hitherto uncultivated soil, requiring
laborious work to clear. A few cocoanut and bread-
fruit trees and a few banana and sugar cane plants,
with a small patch of yams, sufficed for all his wants.

In this way the results of emancipation were much
more disasterous in the other islands than in Barbados ;
in the latter place there was not a foot of waste soil
on which to squat, so that it was a question of either
work or starvation with the Barbadian negro.

When the extraordinary cheapness in Barbados
of such living as satisfies the negro is considered,
it will be seen that three or four day's work in a
week at a shilling or eighteen pence per day is
quite sufficient to enable the laborer to support
himself in comfort. His honest income is supple-
plemented of course by any chance appropriation

108 STAR K'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

of his neighbor's fowls or sugar cane that may
come in his way, and he is aided by his concubine who
generally provides by her own earnings for the main-
tenance of herself and such of her children as may
not have died of neglect.

It is seldom that the Barbados negro will emigrate,
though his fine physique makes him a valuable laborer
when he is willing to work ; but the advantages of Bar-
bados are too seductive to be counterbalanced by any
inducements that his employers in other places can
offer. He prefers a little work in Barbados with small
pay, to high wages in Trinidad or Guiana.

On the whole the Barbadian negro does not im-
prove on close acquaintance, and a residence for a
short time on the island will go far to evaporate any
enthusiasm for " Free Suffrage, or the Brotherhood
of Man." For notwithstanding some remarkable
exceptions, the general verdict passed upon the negro
- as he appears in this island must be that he is a
creature of a low type of humanity, whether his present
condition be one of arrested development or of retro-
gression from a higher state.

There are black men in Barbados who are upright
and capable citizens ; there are some who are gentle
men of culture, such as Sir Conrad Reeves, Chief
Justice of Barbados, whom the writer had the pleasure
of meeting several times. We also have in the
United States such men as Frederick Douglass ; but
to hold such men up as fair examples of the negro
race is much the same as if a Shakespeare were taken
as an example of the Anglo-Saxon race. These two
men are probably the most prominent men of the
negro race today in the world ; and yet they are not
fair specimens, for they each had white fathers. The
intellectual growth of children is perhaps the best
guide as to the modus operandi of Nature in the
intellectual development of races of men. The
savage is in much the same position with regard to

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 109

the intellectual power of the average civilized man as
a child is. The negro remains a grown-up child as
regards the higher powers and faculties of the human
race. This is strikingly exemplified in the experience
of those engaged in teaching the negro, both in the
West Indies and the United States. The little
negroes up to the age of about twelve years are quite as
sharp-witted and quick to learn as the white child, and
are often precocious. But when the years of puberty
are approached a change comes over the child. It is
as if a potent voice said, "Thus far and no farther."
The intellect and reasoning power seem to be suddenly
arrested, the lower faculties and animal nature receive
an impetus, and the clever child too often settles
down into the dull and gross adult. This sudden
change is accounted for by the fact that the negro
brain is at this time arrested by the premature closing
of the cranial sutures and lateral pressure of the
frontal bone, the result being that the average weight
of the negro's brain is ten ounces less than that of
the Caucasian.

110 STARK "S HISTORY AND GUIDE

BARBADOS AS A HEALTH RESORT, AMUSEMENT
AND RECREA TION.

Barbados is one of the most salubrious places in
the world ; the great extremes of from hot to cold,
such as is experienced in many winter resorts, as in
Florida, Italy and the south of France, being here
unknown, its climate is especially adapted to make it
an agreeable and advantageous winter residence for
those afflicted with lung and throat trouble, who have
to spend that season of the year out of England or
the United States.

The strongest argument in favor of the salubrity
of Barbados is the fact, that the records of the
garrison therefor the last twenty-five years show that
it is the healthiest station at which British troops are
quartered anywhere in the world. The purity of the
air in Barbados, as shown by a most careful analysis
by the government professor of chemistry, is remark-
able ; the island being largely of coral formation, there
are no swamps to breed malaria, and the northeast
trade wind blowing constantly across the island
clenses it of all impurities. The island enjoys almost
perfect immunity from small-pox, scarlet fever, diph-
theria, measles and other infectious diseases ; and
when they do occur they are of an extremely
mild type, owing probably to the constant and
thorough ventilation, which the warmth of the climate

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR/BBEE ISLANDS. Ill

permits and encourages. The disease tKaVfoa.s until
recently been answerable for the "greatesY number of
preventible deaths, is typhoid fever. This illness is
owing to the lack of any system of drainage outside
of the garrison ; and in a country so densely popu-
lated, the sewerage by infiltration finds its way into
the wells and ponds from where the poor 'people de-
rived their water. This is shown by the large decrease
in this disease since the introduction of the water-
supply from an unpolluted source, the town and
suburbs being now supplied with the purest of water.
The greatest scourge in the past has been yellow
fever, but with strict quarantine regulations and
greater attention to cleanliness, good air, and good
water the ravages of the disease have become less
frequent and destructive. There is probably no year
in which cases of yellow fever are not introduced into
Barbados from other West India islands, or from the
mainland of America ; but for twenty years before
1 88 1, the disease had failed te spread and was con-
fined to quarantine; and since 1881, though several
seamen brought it here, there has been no epidemic.
The chance of yellow fever ever becoming epidemic
on the island should not prevent invalids from visiting
it as a health resort, for such an event is extremely
problematical, especially during the cool season.

The seasons in Barbados are but two, the wet and
the dry, or the hot and the cool. The wet season
lasts from the beginning of June to about the end of
October, the dry extending over the remaining
months. While the wet season lasts there are fre-
quent and heavy showers, with occasional thunder
storms. During the dry season, and especially
throughout the latter half of November, through
December, January, February, March and April, the
northeast trade-wind blows steadily and the climate
is delightful. The heat from the direct rays of the
sun, as might be expected in a place so near the

112 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

equator, is much the same all the year ; the difference
of temperature and the much more marked difference
of sensation being mainly caused by the direction
.and force of the wind. During .the dry season, the
temperature in the neighborhood of Bridgetown and
Hastings, being on the leeward side of the island,
ranges from 80 ° to 82 ° in the shade during the
middle of the day, while at night the thermometer
:shows from 73 ° to 76 ° . At the Crane and Bath-
sheba and other places on the windward side of the
island, the temperature is from three to five degrees
lower.

This equability of temperature, night and day
through the long dry season, renders the climate
very favorable for those suffering from pulmonary
affections, and is no doubt in a great degree the
cause of the almost perfect immunity Barbados enjoy
from phthisis and other diseases of the respiratory
organs. The climate of Barbados is remarkably
beneficial to elderly people, who, suffering from no
specific disease, but merely from that debility and
general decrease of vital power which accompanies
old age, have here in a marked degree recovered
strength with mental and physical elasticity. The
climate makes little or no demand upon their strength,
it costs scarce any expense of vital power to keep up
animal heat, and there is no risk of congestion of the
lungs, of pleurisy or of bronchitis and similar
diseases. Invalids desiring medical attendance while
residing in Barbados will find many duly qualified
practitioners, graduates of distinguished universities
who have gained a reputation for skill in the art of
healing : among whom may be mentioned Drs. Bowen
and Gaskin.

There is considerable more attention given to
business in Barbados than is usually the case in
tropical countries. The Barbadians are the Yankees
of the West Indies ; they boast that there is no place

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 113

there for Jews or Portuguese/ who are found on the
other islands and on the mainland, occupying promi-
nent positions in trade circles. This is literally
correct, for the Jews who were here formerly in great
numbers, are now almost unknown. There is not an
unoccupied gentleman in the place ; it is not therefore
surprising if amusements, like other things, being a
matter of demand and supply, the leisured stranger
will find this place dull in comparison with fashion-
able summer resorts in England and the United
States. With an influx of visitors whose chief
occupation would be how to spend their time in the
most agreeable manner, there is no doubt they would
be quickly followed by those whose business it would
be to cater for their amusement.

The Savannah is the principal playground for the
Barbadians ; it is a level field of over forty acres in
extent, about the size of Boston Common, almost
circular and surrounded by a belt of trees, among
which the beautiful glossy "evergreen" predom-
inates. All around, underneath the trees, runs a
carriage road ; while outside again are the garrison
buildings, barracks, officers quarters, offices, and
other buildings standing in detached blocks. To the
south lies the sea, while on the northeast the back-
ground is formed by the green hill of High-Gate.
The Savannah is not only the parade-ground of the
troops, but the play-ground of the garrison, and for
that matter of the island as well ; for it is here that
the Barbados races are held, and a portion of the
ground is occasionally used for their sports by a
local athletic club, and here the garrison athletic
meetings, pony-races and frequent "gymkhanas" or
goat races come off.

Here in the afternoon the visitor will find in
full swing the games which had been laid aside for
months before he left home. He will see in one corner
of the great green parade ground, a cricket match

114 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

being fought out between rival companies of a regi-
ment or between a garrison or a civilian club ; at
another part of the grounds he may find the officers
" at home " to their friends, and the military band
discoursing sweet music, while several lawn-tennis
parties are enjoying themselves at a tennis-court.
At another part of the grounds, some mounted
officers are tilting at the ring or the tent-peg, or
making the scene more gay with their variegated
jackets while they pursue the flying ball at polo.
Of course these various sports are open to all
spectators, the immediate friends of the officers and
of non-commissioned officers being accommodated in
separate enclosures, and hospitality dispensed under
the shade of marquees and tents. One of these
garrison meetings form a sight well worth seeing
by the visitor, with the fluttering pennons, the
gaily colored dresses of the negroes, the picturesque
uniform of the Zouave soldiers of the West India
regiments, the red or white of the European infantry,
and the parti-colored jackets of the jockeys. There is
spirit of rollicking fun shining in the ebony faces of
the negroes, and bursting into loud shouts of laughter
at the slightest incident that seems comical ; while
above the hum and cheers of the crowd swell the
strains of the band the whole picture framed in by
that belt of wonderful green.

The introduction of lawn-tennis has proved a great
boon to the residents here, and the game seems to have
taken a permanent hold of the people. Courts have
been laid down in all directions, and, those of the
principal island club at Enmore, the lawns at Govern-
ment House, the residence of the Governor, and
Queen's House, the quarters of the general officer
commanding in the West Indies, and those of some
of the leading people of the island, are thrown open
for weekly receptions, so that frequent opportunities
are given for the meeting of people, young and old,

1 1

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR /B BEE ISLANDS. 115

of which full advantage seems to be taken. The
arrival of the North American and West Indian fleet
is eagerly looked forward to. While the admiral
remains, a period of from ten days to two weeks,
generally during the months of January or February,
a succession of balls, dinners, picnics, gymkhanas,
regattas and sham rights takes place, with many
entertainments on board the different vessels of the
fleet. At this season, also, the war-ships of foreign
nations frequently visit the island ; so that it is not
unusual to see the harbor crowded with ships flying
the flags of many countries ; while the roads and
streets of Bridgetown swarm with sailors and resound
with unfamiliar accents of many different languages.

As almost every foot of the country is under cul-
tivation it is needless to say there is no hunting to
be had, for with the exception of the monkeys in
Turner's Hall woods, and they are exceedingly shy,
there are no wild animals on the island ; nor is there
any shooting worth the name, although some species
of plover and snipe rest here for a few days
on their migratory passage from America to some
unknown land. While the " birds " stay, everyone
in Barbados who has a gun brings it out and there is
quite an excitement about the " shooting ; " but there
are usually more gunners than there are birds.

There are no streams of fresh water for fish to
live in, there is no fishing with rod or line ; good
fishing, however, can be had on the leeward of
Bridgetown, where the sea deepens very slowly, so
that at a considerable distance from shore the
water will not be deeper than from forty or sixty
feet, with a white coral bottom so pellucid that the
fish can be seen at a great depth issuing from their
hiding places among the coral and luxuriant sea-
mosses that surround the submerged coral reefs.
The fisher seems to be looking down into a huge
aquarium, and, as it were, admitted to see the home

116 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

life of the finny inhabitants. The Barracouta and
Kingfish will afford the most sport, as well as prove
more palatable than most of the others ; the former
may be caught of considerable size and weighing up
to sixty pounds, while the latter is one of the most
vigorous fish in the sea.

If plenty of excitement is desired, it can be had by
those who are proof against sea sickness, in catching
sharks, which abound, especially in December and
January, off the coasts of the island. On the wind-
ward side, sharks of considerable size are often taken
by fishing from the rocks ; but for those who are
willing to rough it and are not afraid of the sea, the
best plan is to hire a small schooner for a few days
and to go to one of the recognized shark-grounds off
the coast. The excitement of the struggle with a
large shark is so great, (and the natural enmity be-
tween the man and fish is at such a moment at its
height,) when one sees the vengeful, glaring eye of
the captured fish still struggling to be free, and hears
the snap of those terrible jaws, he feels as if he were
avenging the injuries of his race. There is no occasion
that shows the savage instinct of man, covered by a thin
veneer of civilization, plainer than when witnessing
the fight to get a large and vigorous shark on
board. The largest shark caught in Barbadian waters
was taken alongside of a captured whale ; it measured
twenty-five feet in length, and a man of 5ft. 6in. in
height could walk through his gaping jaws.

At Speightstown the whale fishery is still carried
on, and much sport can be had in catching sharks
when a whale is being stripped of his blubber. The
workmen at such times are too busy to do more than
make an occasional lunge with the;r cutting spades
at any shark who is too greedy ; each party seems
intent on his own business, that is to secure as
much blubber as they can.

It will not do to leave out all mention of whist

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR IB BEE ISLANDS. 117

when describing the amusements and recreations of
the Barbadians, at least of the middle-aged and
elderly class, for at all private parties, and at the
Bridgetown Club, whist is the popular card game, and
from constant practice the gentlemen of the island
acquire great skill thereat.

118 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XI.

SEASIDE, RESORTS, "THE CRANE" AND

"BATHSHEBA" RAMBLES IN THE

SCOTLAND HILLS.

A favorite watering-place of the islands, which all
strangers should visit if only for a few days, is " The
Crane ; " so called from a shipping place, which, with
its customary hoisting apparatus, was once to be seen
there, but which has long since disappeared, every
vestige of commerce having vanished from this coast.
Though not exposed to so violent a sea as that
which thunders against the cliffs of St. Andrews
and St. Lucy, yet the uncertainty of currents and
the vicinity of the sunken reef of "The Cobblers"
have placed this spot at a serious disadvantage for
purposes of commerce, when compared with places on
the leeward shore.

The coast line for some miles near "The Crane "
is rugged and black. Vast masses of rock have
fallen from the cliffs, undermined by the erosive
action of the sea. This is especially noticeable .at a
place a little to the south, where the cliff has been
split off from the bottom to the top, a distance of
eight to twelve feet, separating the bases of the
rocks, while their summits are, in places, close
together or in actual contact. This is a characteristic
of the shores of all coral islands, especially of the
Bahamas and Bermudas.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARZBBEE ISLANDS. 119

The " Crane " is situated in St. Philip's parish,
distant about twelve miles from the Marine Hotel
and about fourteen miles from Bridgetown. It is a
very pleasant afternoon drive, or the visitor can go
by rail to Sudbury station, distant four miles from
the " Crane " where a conveyance will meet him from
the hotel. There are some furnished houses in
addition to the hotel along the cliff, which are occu-

THREE NATIVES.

pied during the warm season by planters and their
families, who come here to enjoy the fresh sea-
breezes which constantly blow from the ocean.

At a distance of about a mile from the Crane hotel,
and within a hundred yards of the sea, stands a large
house known as "Long Bay Castle," or as "Lord's
Castle." The building is of a pretentious style, the
rooms are large and lofty, and the tall mahogany
pillars of the dining-room have a fine effect ; the walls

120 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

are hung with fine mirrors, but the keen sea air
acting for many years has dimmed them.

The house is too large, and its situation too remote
for the wants of most Barbadian families, therefore it
has been unoccupied for years and is slowly going to
decay.

No one should leave Barbados without having
paid a visit to Bathsheba, on the northeast or wind-
ward side of the island, situated in the Scotland
district in the parish of St. Joseph. It is distant
seventeen miles from Bridgetown by railroad, and
about twelve miles by carriage road.

Bathsheba lies under Hackelton's Cliff, which
rising to a height of from 800 to noo feet, runs,
under different names, for several miles round the
windward coast, affording many splendid views. The
coast line here is rugged ; and the rocks, worn by the
tremendous surf, take fantastic shapes. The negroes
here, extremely primitive in dress and manners,
may be seen fishing from the ledges of the rocks
in a nude state, presenting much the same appear-
ance, and using implements almost as primitive as
their ancestors did when they fished from the banks of
the Niger or the Congo. Bathsheba is most easily
reached by the railway, which, descending from the
higher level by very steep gradients cut into the face
of the cliff, gives the traveller, especially in the
morning, some excellent views of the coast scenery
of Consett's Bay.

One can of course drive to Bathsheba from Bridge-
town ; but the road from the summit of the heights
is too steep for the comfort of either, passengers or
cattle ; and as the fares are extremely low on the
railway, under a half-penny a mile for first-class return
tickets, it is needless to say the latter route is
generally preferred. As Bathsheba is situated " in
the wind's eye" which there blows directly off the
sea, it makes a marked difference in the temperature

C/3

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. l'2\

of that place and those on the southern and western,
or leeward coasts. Hastings lying but two miles
from east of Bridgetown, but much exposed to the
wind, is much cooler than the latter place ; and Bath-
sheba is cooler than Hastings. Bathsheba is within
easy distance, by riding, of the finest views in " Scot-
land," as the hilly northern end of the island is
called. The scenery in this part of the island will
be found much more diversified than that towards
the south, or near Bridgetown. It is possible to
spend considerable time in the vicinity of the latter
place, and then to leave Barbados under the impression
that there is little or nothing in the way of good scen-
ery to be seen. On entering the district of Scotland,
however, it is as if one had suddenly been transferred
to a different island. The coral formation has dis-
appeared, the color of the soil is different, and there
are many steep hills.

Starting from Bathsheba, a very pleasant ride may
be had by going up " Horse Hill," and so by the high
road to Castle Grant. If one turns off by a track to
the left which meets the road just beyond this place,
he will soon find himself amidst some of the finest
scenery in Barbados ; for his path crosses Welch-
man's Hall Gulley, which he can from this place
enter easily, and leads him close to the celebrated
Porey Spring.

Having passed Lammings, the bridle-path cut in
the side of the coral cliff just where that formation
ceases, will lead him under immense rocks, which, in
many places overhang the rugged path, the ground
descending almost perpendicularly to the bottom of
the deep and fertile valley that lies between Mount
Hilliby range and the one which is continued by
Bissex Hill and which terminates in the sea by the
precipitious oceanic formation. The valley viewed
from this path is very lovely. Near at hand, and

122

START'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

immediately below the spectator's feet, the land-
scape is thickly studded with fruit trees. The
bread-fruit tree, and those bearing the bread-nut,
lemon, orange, sapadilla, golden-apple, custard-apple
and sugar-apple, overshadow the little huts that dot
the steep slopes, and perch upon every jutting rock,
by their variously tinted foliage, and many colored
fruit, diversifying the prevailing greenness ; the fruit,
however, will prove to be like the gorgeously tinted
tropical fish, very beautiful to the eye but lacking in
taste. The steep sides of the hill is unfit for the

ROADSIDE SCENE.

growth of the sugar cane, and on this account it
happens that it is occupied as " spots," by many of
the negroes and " Redlegs," who often own the land,
and grow on their tiny patches arrowroot and fruit,
to the great improvement of the landscape. The
" Redlegs" are poor whites, the descendants of the
" Wild Irishry " who were sent here and sold as slaves
by Cromwell. This opprobrious name was given by
the Ulster settlers to the kilted natives of the coun-
try, and still sticks to their descendants, although it
has lost its meaning, and no Barbadian knows why
he calls another or is styled himself a " Redleg."

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 123

These poor white people are more numerous in the
parishes of St. Philip, St. Joseph and St. Andrew
than in any other. They are very similiar in their
appearance and manner of living to the " Crackers "
found in the Southern States, and can be traced back
to the same origin.

The rich cane-producing valley, lies between its
defending hills, stretching away for miles, and ter-
minated by a strip of glistening sand, beyond which
is a fringe of dazzling foam, and the indescribable
blue of the ocean. To the stranger, who has been
previously acquainted with the tame scenery in the
vicinity of Bridgetown, the first sight of this valley
will be a revelation.

On proceeding further, the visitor finds the bridle-
path strike the road again, by following which he
will pass " Cane Field" with its glowing hibiscus
bloom, and still further on will descend into a deep
and narrow glen with precipitious, but wooded
sides ; crossing by a rude bridge, a little stream
that rushes at the bottom in many a miniature cas-
cade, he will find a path towards the right which leads
to the foot of a conical hill, Mount Misery, from
the summit of which the sea surrounding the island
can be seen, except at one point, where the Peak
of Hillaby shuts it from view.

From Cane Field it is but a few minutes ride to
Porey's Spring; but as that place can be easily
reached from town, and the ground already covered
is quite enough for one day's work, it is better to
return to Bathsheba by the road past Maynard's,
which runs through a picturesque part of the country.
Then, taking the way towards Bissex Hill and
descending on the southeastern side by a steep road-
way, the tourist can regain the hotel at Bathsheba
by way of Frazers, Nullows and Joe's River.

Within fifteen minutes walk of Bathsheba, by the way
lying along the sea shore towards the northwest, lies the

124

ST ARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE '

oil district, where petroleum is still obtained, although
the supply falls short of what it was when the wells
were first sunk. These oil wells are situated in a
bare and desolate-looking gorge of the Chalky Mount
Hills, close to the railway and the sea shore.

Above the wells, and occupying many of the sum-
mits and ravines of the hills between Chalky Mount
and Bissex Hill, are the potteries of Barbados, carried
on in the most primative manner. Every man mixes
his own clay, has his own rude wheel, generally
turned by some member of his family in his little
hut, and finally his own furnace. The ware produced

CARRYING POTTERY TO BRIDGETOWN

is coarse, but the very coarseness of the ware forms,
as it is used in Barbados, its greatest merit. It is
very porous, and the vessels permit a very rapid
evaporation of water, especially when placed in the
wind, thus keeping the contents at a temperature
much lower than that of the surrounding air.

For this reason, although the ware is sold at a
small price, it is highly valued ; and no Barbadian
house, from the Governor's residence down to the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 125

poorest hut, is considered furnished without its
assortment of "juglets," and " monkeys," so
called according^ to their shape, and the absence
or presence of a handle or spout. The part taken by
the woman of the family is that of distribution ; and
it is wonderful to see how they will descend the
steep hills, with enormous loads of ware stacked on
large trays upon their heads. These huge burdens
they will carry upon trays fifteen miles to Bridgetown,
remaining in the town and its vicinity till they have
sold off their stock, a process they can only effect by
walking many miles from house to house. The pot-
ters are a cheerful, independent set of people, and
not inclined to work or worry more than they need.
When watching the dark-skinned and half naked
potter at his primitive wheel in Barbados, it seems
strange to think that from such humble origin sprang
the art to which the highest skill, immense capital
and well organized labor, are at the present time
being devoted at Sevres, Meissen and Worcester.

To reach the potteries from Bathsheba it is advis-
able to procure a pony or mule, as there will be some
pretty difficult climbing to do, as well as considerable
distances to travel.

It is also in this district, on patches among the
hills, too small and with soil too poor for the success-
ful cultivation of sugar cane which requires a deep
and fertile earth, that the arrowroot is grown and
manufactured. It is prepared in as primitive a man-
ner as pottery is. The proprietor or tenant of an
arrowroot patch usually owns a peculiar little wind-
mill, almost a toy in size, usually half in ruins, the
worn sails patched with garments which being no
longer of any avail for " raising the wind " are utilized
for catching it. In these mills the cleansed roots are
ground, the juice being allowed to settle, and the
surface liquid is then poured off. The deposit of fine
powder is then washed with water, and again allowed

126 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

to settle. This process is repeated according to
the degree of purity required in the manufactured
article, and the powder or starch finally resulting is
spread on boards to dry. The manufacture of the
article is not of sufficient quantity to supply any for
exportation.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 127

CHAPTER XII.

CAVES AND RAVINES.

Caves abound in all coral or limestone formations,
and Barbados is not an exception to this rule ; the
island contains many large caves, hollowed out of
the coral rocks by the dissolving and denuding
influence of running streams of fresh water, or by
the action of the sea. This process is more rapid on
coral islands than it is where the rock belongs to an
older limestone formation. . The entrance to the
caves are usually small crevices in the rock, often
masked by vegetation, such as is seen at Cole's Cave,
situated in the bottom of a romantic ravine in St.
Thomas' Parish.

After passing for some yards through the narrow
entrance to this cave, it becomes more broad and
lofty ; the floor, too, here is dry and remains so till
"the fork" is reached, where the cave divides into
two parts, at a distance of some three hundred yards
from the entrance. The shorter and less interesting
branch remains dry, but a great part of the floor of
the great cave is occupied by a stream of clear water,
which, issuing out of the rock, follows the course of
the cave as far as it can be explored. This stream is
one of the principal sources of the water supply of
the Bridgetown Waterworks Company.

No outlet to it has been discovered ; it probably is
submarine, and comes up at Freshwater Bay, distant
about five miles from the cave. All along the shore

128 STAXA'S HI TORY AND GUIDE

of this bay, the bather can feel the sand being pushed
up under his feet, and trace in the clear water the
ascending jets of fresh water, which are sufficient in
amount to make a perceptible difference in the saline
matter held in solution by the waters of the bay as
compared with that of the surrounding sea, the
waters of the bay being about half fresh. There is
a tradition that: a duck was marked and put in the
stream and was carried away by the current, and
some days after it was recovered near Freshwater
Bay, very much exhausted and nearly stripped of its
feathers, probably by coming in contact with project-
ing rocks, and passing through fissures in coming to
the surface.

The largest cave can be reached by following the
course of the stream, along a path made above the
water pipes. The roof and sides of the cave were at
one time covered with stalactites, many of them of
great size, but those near the entrance, and generally
in the more "accessible parts, have been broken off
and carried away by persons desirous of adorning
their gardens with "rockeries." The roof of this
cave also presents a most remarkable appearence, in
consequence of being studded with numerous cavities
or pits of a rounded form, resembling inverted
saucers or calabashes, from 3. few inches to twenty
inches in diameter, and from half an inch to six
inches in depth. No satisfactory reason has been
assigned yet as to the origin of these cavities. If
they occurred on the floor of the cave, they could be
easily explained as caused by eddies in the stream,
which by sweeping round pieces of harder stones or
pebbles could, by constant attrition in the course of
time, have hollowed out these holes ; but there are no
pits in the floor of the cave, they are all in the roof,
and the presence of stalactites in the cavern is proof
that the cavern was aerial when they were formed.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 129

At a short distance from where the stream issues,
the cavern becomes more spacious, and a basin is
formed which has received the name of the Bath.
From here it gradually lessens in height and finally
becomes so low as to render it necessary for the
visitor to stoop and follow the course of the stream
by crawling along, until it is not possible to follow the
cave for a greater distance. By burning a piece of
magnesium wire the cavern can be brilliantly
illuminated, producing some very fine effects.

No one can drive into the country in Barbados

REPAIRING THE ROAD.

without noticing the many deep and steep-sided
ravines, here called gullies, which sometimes run
for a distance of several miles intersecting the cane
fields. The existence of these gullies have been
attributed by some geologists, to the denudating effects
of currents, as the island became gradually and slowly
elevated above the sea ; others 'believe that they
were caused by an earthquake which raised at
least the higher part of the island with sudden
violence above the level of the ocean, lacerating the

130 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

ground in the same way as has occurred in modern
times in volcanic countries. Probably both of these
causes have resulted in forming the gullies. But,
however these ravines may have been formed, they
have given to visitors to Barbados, about the only
opportunity of seeing wild tropical vegetation. Those
in which Cole's Cave and Porey Spring are situated,
with those known respectively as Russia and Welsh-
man's Hall gullies, are the principal ones on the
island ; they are all situated in St. Thomas' Parish
and are favorite resorts for picnic parties.

The gully in which Cole's Cave is situated, is well
worth visiting, as at the bottom of this romantic ravine
is the noblest specimen of the silk-cotton tree on the
island. This tree towers far above the other foliage of
the ravine, and with its enormous buttress-like roots,
supporting many climbing plants and orchids, forms
a remarkable object. A species of wood-ant has
colonized it, and with infinite labor the insects have
conveyed a mass of many hundred weight of earth
and debris to one of the great forks of the tree.

Cole's cave and ravine are six and a half miles from
Bridgetown : the excellent carriage road leading to it
runs through several of the largest sugar estates
on the island, and the view from the top of some of the
hills over which it passes is very fine.

Welshman's Hall gully is in the same vicinity, one
mile distant in a direct line, and about three miles
by road, by way of the Bloomsbury estate. It can
be reached from Bridgetown by the road passing the
Asylum, Cane Garden, and Holy Innocents' Chapel,
and visitors should not omit visiting this ravine. On
reaching the edge of it, the tourist, leaving his carriage,
descends by an easy path running along the side of
a little forest of the glossy leaved and aromatic bay
tree, soon finds himself at the bottom, under the
welcome shade of a grove of nutmeg and cacao trees,
the former of which he will probably see laden with

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 131

fruit. Some forty years ago, the then owner of
Welshman's Hall cleared this portion of the gully
and planted it with fruit and spice-bearing trees, but
the "spice grove " thus made has long since been
allowed to run wild again, and were it not for the
unusual profusion of fruits, oranges, lemons, nutmegs,
cinnamon and many other rare trees, no one would
suspect that a hoe had been struck into the soil.
Turning to the right from the Nutmeg Grove and

GOING TO MARKET.

proceeding down the ravine to the southward, many
stalactites are seen, especially on the cliffs to the
left, and attention will be drawn especially to one of
enormous dimensions forming a massive pillar in
support of the rock, which here overhangs considerably.
It makes a cave of some depth, from which some
exquisite glimpses of the ravine may be had through
the spaces between the stalactites. The great pillar,
stalactite and stalagmite having met, will be found

132 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

to have a diameter of from four to five. feet, and is
thus among the largest in the world. Passing on
from this, a path is found in this side of the cliff
overhung by the arched rock all the way, while from
the roof great masses of limestone, like huge sugar-
loaves, are hanging.

The bottom of the
glen is here strewn with
masses of rock, every
crevice of which contains its
fern, while considerable many
trees will be seen growing out
of the solid stone. The cliff
on the opposite, or right
hand side as one goes down
the ravine, is high and steep,
indeed perpendicular, and fes-
tooned to the ground with
the tendrils and leaves mat-
ted into a web of lianas and
other creepers. From point
to point one is tempted on till
a roadway crosses the ravine
on a bridge, beyond which
there is little to be seen,
unless one cares to examine

some shallow caves which in
A NEGRO BEAUTY. times gone by had their en.

trances hung with doors and were used as store-
houses

On retracing his steps to the grove and then pro-
ceeding up the ravine towards the north, he will see
a remarkable specimen of the silk-cotton tree, grow-
ing on a ledge of the cliff on what is now the right
hand side. The tree is not nearly as large as that
growing in the neighboring glen of Cole's Cave, but
the huge roots are twisted in corkscrew shape ; it seems
as if they were moulded regularly on the wreathed

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 133

curves, while overhead high among the branches, is
a network of orchids, which threaten at no distant
day to destroy the tree as the wood ants will its
huger brother. Passing by the silk-cotton tree and
an artificial pond covered with acpuatic plants
the visitor finds the side of the glen receding
further from one another, and the wood disappearing,
the sugar cane again taking its place. He has
now arrived at the summit of the water-shed,
and by walking a hundred yards further over level
ground, still between the . now far separated and
gradually lessening cliffs, he will come to a narrow
roadway or path from which he can have a glorious
prospect over the famous Scotland Valley ; and if he
climbs a steep conical peak of coral on his left, will
have Hillaby, Fareley Hill, the St. Lucy Coast, Belle
Plaine, Chalky Mount and Bissex Hill spread out
before him.

Returning by the road leading by Holy Innocents'
Chapel, at a distance of about three miles from
Welshman's Hall, the visitor will come to a fork in
the road, at the junction of which is Sharon Chapel,
the old Moravian Missionary station. Turning to the
right up this road, the visitor will pass over a range
of hills from which some exquisite views can be
obtained, especially in the vicinity of " Grand View "
estate. Following this road for a distance of about
tiiree miles, the visitor will come to Porey's Spring
and Gully, which, in a direct line, is about only one
mile distant from Welchman's Hall. The upper part
of the ravine is full of fruit trees, orange, lemon and
guava predominating. At some spots the view is
• very pretty. As for the spring it was some years
ago improved out of sight. A former proprietor,
having given the spring to the public, the parochial
authorities confined the leaping cascade within walls
and tanks, in order that the people living in the
vicinity could obtain a pure water supply.

134 SHARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

A large bath has been provided, with a constant
stream of fresh water, which is open and free to the
public.

A drive of half a mile on from Porey's Spring, up
a beautifully situated road overhung in many places
with fruit trees, gay with rainbow tints, will bring
the visitor to Dunscombe, a deeper and better
wooded ravine than the one just passed through.
Continuing along the same road, passing by " Hill-
aby," Turner's Hall Woods in St. Andrew's Parish
will be reached, distant about three miles from
Dunscombe. These woods are visited by most
travellers who come to Barbados ; they clothe a spur
of the Scotland Hills, and are a bit of real tropical
forest — the only remnant of the woods which once
covered the whole island. The wonder is how they have
survived till now ; for where land sells at the enormous
price that it brings here, and at a spot where no
manor house pleads in favor of the prospect from the
windows, the incentives towards deforesting must be
powerful. However, the woods stand to this day ; let
us hope that for many a year they may hold their
ground against that terrible foe to the wild and free
beauties of nature, the sugar cane.

These woods also contain the only wild monkeys
on the island, although when the first settlers came
here they were so abundant that a price was set upon
their heads. The raccoon is now equally scarce,
and was also included in the legislative enactment
for extirpation ; these two animals, together with
perhaps an indigenous mouse, are all that were found
on the island when first discovered.

The trees in this wood consist almost entirely of
Locust, Cedar, Fustic and Bully trees ; and on several
occasions, when timber was required, trees of more
than a hundred feet in height have been felled in
this wood. Several trees and shrubs have been found
growing which were formerly considered to belong
singly to Guiana and Trinidad.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 135

The Boiling Spring, as it is called, is on the side
of a water-course in these woods, and is considered
one of the great natural curiosities of Barbados. The
spring does not boil in the literal sense, it is not even
warm, but the natural gas (carburetted hydrogen)
that escapes through the soil at the bottom of the
cup-shaped depression, bubbles up through the
water, which then seems to boil. After a heavy rain,
when the underground reservoirs are full of water,
and the gas is thus under greater pressure than
usual, a considerable quantity escapes ; and on appli-
cation of a lighted match at such times to the surface
of the pool, it takes fire and burns all over the
" spring" with a feeble, flickering flame, which yet
gives out great heat. In dry weather, the gas escapes
in much smaller volumes, and must be collected in a
kind of inverted funnel, at the top of which it burns
freely, and is thus used to boil the tourist's tea-kettle
or to cook eggs.

It is a long, but pleasant drive to the woods from
Bridgetown, but as it is only three miles from Belle
Plain railway station, a good pedestrian can walk
there and back in an afternoon, or visitors who are
staying at Bathsheba can arrange to be driven over
from there at a moderate cost.

At " North Point," the northern extremity of the
island, in the parish of St. Lucy, is one of the most
remarkable caverns on the island, The " Animal
Flower Cave " has gained a wide reputation, not
so much for the size of the cavern, though that is
considerable, as on account of its beautiful inhabi-
tants, a species of zoophyte. All along the eastern
shore of this district the shore is precipitous, the
cliffs descending at many places sheer into deep
water. They are fully exposed to the prevailing
northeast trade-winds, and to the force of the
mighty billows which, gathering speed and power as
they sweep from mid-ocean, hurl themselves against

136 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

these rocky ramparts which are worn into deep
caverns of which the Animal Flower Cave is one.

For a stranger in the island to visit this cave is a
serious undertaking, for, in the first place, the situa-
tion is remote and with difficulty reached from either
Bathsheba or Bridgetown ; and in the second place,
it is almost impossible for even a young and active
man to gain the entrance in safety, except during
comparatively calm weather such as seldom occur
from November to May.

There is probably no coast in the world from
which a better idea of the power and graudeur of the
sea can be formed than this. The huge billows come
in with a noise like thunder, and rise almost to the
edge of the cliff, and are often said to " lip over "
when a strong breeze is blowing, and then retreating,
leave behind them a series of cascades of foam which
have scarcely ceased to descend before the next
wave dashes in. To one standing on the summit
of the cliff they seem irresistible, and as if the
island itself were but floating and dancing upon
them. In some instances, the caves are connected
with the surface by narrow, perpendicular passages ;
and when the breeze is strong, the sea dashing itself
against the cliffs and filling the caverns, rushes
through these "spouts " with a hiss and a roar, fol-
lowed on the retreat of the water by a loud rushing
of air to take its place. It is said that when a strong
wind is blowing, the main "spout" throws up a
column of water to a height of forty feet, which can
be seen for several miles.

The entrance to the " Animal Flower Cave " is in
the face of a steep cliff forty feet high, under an
overhanging rock resembling a porch. It is reached
by crossing a ridge of rocks called from its shape the
Saddle, which crossing must be made during the in-
tervals between the retreat of one wave and the
advance of the next. If one is caught by an incoming

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 137

billow, it is all over with him ; but in calm weather
there is not the slightest danger, and if the sea is
moderate, sufficient time is given between the waves
to cross easily. When the inside of the cave is
gained, the floor is found to slope upwards, and there
is no further danger.

Passing on from the first and larger cave, (for the
cavern consists really of several, opening on the sea,
and connected with each other by passages of greater
or less width,) the visitor arrives at the " Carpet
Room," named from the beautiful mosaic of marine
algae with which the bottom is covered. In the
midst there is an almost circular basin, containing a
large stone covered by water of wonderful trans-
parency and clearness. The basin is filled by water
thrown in by the waves, but it is hard to imagine
that those mighty masses of water which you saw a
moment before, thundering against the cliff, could
have been so tamed as to pour in such a gentle stream ;
it is as if the genius of the grotto had subdued their
violence, and they seem to kiss his feet.

To stand outside and see the outer entrance, fill-
ing it completely up, and producing semi-darkness
inside, one would think that the caverns would be
filled, and all who were within them drowned ; but a
sense of security soon comes, and the visitor is at
liberty to look round and examine the grotto at his
ease.

The flowers, most of them of a pale yellow, resem-
bles single marigolds having many petals. There are
two other species, one with blue and the other with
brown flowers, which are occasionally found along
the reefs, but they do not have the brilliant coloring
of the inhabitants of the cave. Those outside, in the
constantly moving sea, do not need such attractions,
for the apparent petals of the flowers are the arms or
feelers of the animal, which suddenly contracts upon
and enclose those particles which come within its

138 STARK' S HISTORY A XD GUIDE

reach, and are suitable for the creature's food ; on the
open coral reef, every eddy and current sweeps into
these open arms of the animal, its prey ; but in the
stillness of the grotto there are no currents, and the
actinia, chained to its rock and left without a food
supply, would starve and perish. Here is a won-
derful instance of' the adaptability of living things
to a new environment, the actinia sets a trap, it can-
not pursue its prey, there are no currents to bring it
food, its food then must come of itself ; and so the
homely, graceless feelers become like the petals of a
lovely flower, glowing with brilliant colors, a cruel
trap for the creatures that thought only of sweetness
and light.

As soon as the hand approaches to pluck this
wonderful flower, the petal-like organs retract them-
selves, and the stem or tube vanishes into the crevice
of. the rock whence it issued, reappearing again
soon after the hand is withdrawn and the water left
undisturbed.

The roof of the cavern is hung with stalactites,
from which clear fresh water continually drops into
the pools of salt water below.

A visit to this cave is truly a sublime spectacle ;
the long Atlantic roll approaches the headland in
great unbroken masses, until it comes in contact
with the cliffs, when it clashes against them with a
deafening noise, filling the opening of the cave with
a watery curtain, the effect of which is peculiar and
grand. At the commencement when the masses of
water are thick and compact, almost total darkness
prevails ; then follows suddenly a brownish hue, which
changes into a yellow glare, until the wave has re-
treated, and a bright light breaks through the open-
ing, again to be darkened by the next incoming
wave.

A little to the north of " The Crane" hotel, at a
spot known locally as Dawlish, is another curious,

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 139

natural phenomenon. A cave, to which the sea is
admitted by an opening at the bottom of the outward
rock, and which is reached by a series of steps cut
into or built into the rock, forms a sheltered bath of
sea water ; while, on ascending the stairs and looking
over a huge stone, another cave will be seen lying
close beside the former.

The sea is not admitted into the latter, at least to
any extent, but a copious spring of fresh water rises
in it, thus forming a fresh water bath, side by side
with that of salt water. The water is here so clear
that the sand below seems not to be covered by the
fluid element, and many a visitor coming here for the
first time, supposing it to be a spot of dry sand, has
walked directly into water, much to his astonishment.

140 STARK >S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

CHAPTER XIII.

OISTIN'S BAY, CHRIST CHURCH, REMARKABLE
OCCURRENCE.

Christ Church, is next to St. Philip's, the largest
parish in Barbados. It forms the southern point of
the island, and possesses less fertility than the other
parishes. The Ridge, a hilly elevation, traverses it
from east to west, and rises terrace-like from the
southern point to a height of 405 feet at the hill near
Adam's Castle. These terraces were formerly coral
reefs, and they present one of the most interesting
instances, illustrative of the theory of a gradual
elevation, with intervening periods of rest and de-
nudation, in the geological history of the island.
The road leading from Hastings to the eastward,
follows the shore, and is exceedingly picturesque.
About five miles from the Marine Hotel, Oistin's
Bay will be reached, the shore of which is com-
posed of a beautiful white coral sand. In the early
days of the colony, a man named Oistin settled here,
from whom the bay received its name. Ligon does
not speak in very flattering terms of the character
of this man, whom he calls profligate ; nevertheless,
as the population increased, a number of houses were
erected on the bay which received the name of
Oistin's Town. It must have been a much larger
place at the commencement of the last century, than
at present. Oldmixon describes it as consisting of

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 141

one long street, with a lane in the middle ; it formed
at that period the market town of one of the five
precincts of the island, and a monthly session of court
was held in it. In 1828 the sessions were transferred
to the town-hall in Bridgetown. Only a few houses,
occupied mostly by fisherman, are now left standing
at Oistin's, and these few present a picture of decay.

On an eminence
above Oistin's stands
"Christ Church;"
tne original struct-
ure being entirely
destroyed by the
great hurricane of
1831, the present building was built in 1835 from
plans furnished by Captain Senhouse, R. N.

A strange occurence took place in the adjacent
churchyard, which has never been satisfactorily
accounted for. The following account, and illustra-
tion describing it, is from a pamphlet published in
England some years ago.* " Christ Church, and the
adjacent burying ground, stands upon a shelve of
coral which rises to an eminence of one hundred feet
above the level of the sea over Oistin's Town. This
church was one of the eleven founded over two cen-
turies ago, at which time various members of the
district erected family vaults in the burying grounds
appropriated to each church. From the nature of
the foundation, these tombs were of necessity formed
partially above and below the surface.

The above cut is made from a sketch taken of the
vault belonging to the family of the Hon. Colonel
Chase, and of which this extraordinary incident is
related. It was constructed of masonry, composed
of the sawn coral stone of the island and fastened
together with cement, which in the course of a few

*Peath Deeds, C. J. Skeet, Publisher, London, 1860.

142 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

years, became hardened as stone itself ; it is twelve
feet long and six and a half feet wide, and is hewn
partially through a flinty limestone rock ; the en-
trance to it was secured by a massive stone which
required six or seven men to move. The doorway
was in the end ; the masonry projecting at the base
and gradually decreasing towards the top, forming
an inclined plane against which rested a large slab
of solid stone forming a door, which was fastened
round with cement to prevent its removal except
when needed for interring in the vault, when it be-
came necessary to break the cement before sliding
aside this stone door. Immediately inside the door
two or more steps 'descended to the flooring.

Upon an occasion of interment in this vault,
August Qth 1812, those engaged in opening it to re-
ceive the body were astonished to find that two' of the
cofrins were removed from their places ; one large
leaden one was upon the ground, while that of an
infant was thrown from its place on one side of the
opposite corner.

The black artisans were alarmed 'and hastened to
the church officials to relate this singular circum-
stance ; but no credence was given to their story, and
it was imagined that, actuated by an inkling for mis-
chief, these laborers had, upon the last occasion of
interment, in order to create a sensation, entered the
vault before closing the door, disturbed the coffins,
and left them in this disorder.

In vain were their protestations of innocence ; and
even the known horror which all negroes attach to
death and burial places was not accepted as a con-
sideration in favour of their assertions. They were
accordingly severely reprimanded, and the church
officials determining to keep strict watch over this
particular vault for the future, endeavoured to pre-
vent the knowledge of what had transpired from cir-
culating beyond those immediately concerned, lest

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 143

they should be censured for neglect. They con-
sequently acted with the greatest caution at the
closing of the door after the burial had taken place ;
having previously seen the coffins re-arranged and
the vault restored to its wonted order, they further
satisfied themselves that there was -no possibility of
ingress by any other than the legitimate means.

Time wore on, four years and two months had
elapsed when death again visited the family, and the
vault was destined to receive another inmate, a tiny
coffin and its baby tenant. The officials eagerly
repaired to the spot ; external examination proved
that it had not been disturbed since last closed ; all
appeared exactly as when they left it, the cement
round the door was solid as the stone it. secured, no
crack in any of the walls warranted the idea of
violence, and yet when the order was given and the
door removed, the vault displayed even greater con-
fusion than on the previous occasion.

This was too serious to be longer overlooked, and
the family must be apprised of the occurence both
on this and the previous occasion, while the perpre-
trators of. the deep-laid trick must be discovered if
possible, and punished ; but after examining the
vault and questioning the masons very closely, the
family were disposed to treat the matter lightly :
consequently the vault was re-arranged, and closed
after the body of the infant had been deposited.

Scarcely two months elapsed before the remains
of a relative were removed from another parish to be
deposited in this vault, it was opened, and again a
mysterious confusion prevailed. The coffins were
replaced and the vault again closed.

Two years and eight months passed away and death
calling for another consignment to this tomb, the door
was removed and the interior for a third time dis-
played a strange disarrangement of the coffins. It
was now regarded more seriously than hitherto ; the

144 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

account of the mystery spread so rapidly, that not
only all the inhabitants of Bridge Town, but of the
whole island were interested. Thousands visited the
spot, curiosity was at its height, and the news having
reached Government House, His Excellency the
Governor, Lord 'Combermere, stated his inclination
to be present at the approaching interment.

Accordingly, attended by his aide-de-camp and
staff, Lord Combermere visited the vault ; in his
presence every part of the floor was sounded to ascer-
tain that no subterranean passage or entrance was
concealed, it was found to be perfectly firm and solid,
no crack even was betrayed. The walls were next
examined ; they were proved to be thoroughly secure,
no fracture was visible, and the three sides together
with the roof and flooring presented a structure
as solid as if formed of entire slabs of stone. The
displaced coffins were re -arranged, the new tenant of
that dreary abode appropriated its place, and when the
mourners had retired with the funeral procession, the
floor was carefully sanded with fine white sand, in
the presence of Lord Combermere and the assembled
crowd, and the door was slid into its wonted position.
With the utmost care the new cement was laid on to
secure the door ; and when the masons had completed
their task, the Governor made several impressions
in the cement with his own seal, and 'many of those
attending him added various private marks.

Satisfied now that no one could gain access to the
vault without betraying his mode of ingress, the
people departed ; but the interest in the occurrence
continued, and furnished a constant topic of conver-
sation. The highest curiosity was expressed as to
the result, and numerous conjectures arose regarding
the cause, some suggested volcanic power, others a
superstitious belief in superhuman agency, while
many still continued to attribute the mischief to the
cunning of the negroes — the impracticability of the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS 145

thing being scarcely taken into consideration.

So great a stir did the occurrence make in the
island, and so many expressed impatience to test
the possibility of trickery by the re-opening of the
tomb, that Lord Combermere, who participated in
this general curiosity, sent a request to the family to
have it examined ; permission was of course accorded,
and the opening fixed for the i8th April, 1820, just

nine months and eleven
days from the period of
its closing.

Barbados has seldom
witnessed such a gather-
ing as Christ Church
district that day pre-
sented. The towns were
deserted, and thousands
hastened to the scene —
every spot, every avenue,
every foot of ground was

PLATE No. I.

covered in and around the churchyard.

The scorching rays of sun blazed forth in tropical
splendour upon that sea of living forms — natives, Eu-
ropeans, negroes, crowded together in their various
attires and scarcely less varied complexions, upon the
brow of a hill, with the massive stone tombs rising
every here and' there amongst them. The old church
standing forth in sombre relief, as if a connecting
link between the living and the dead, made the
scene altogether one which beggared description,
while, perhaps, its peculiar interest was in the death-
like silence of mute anxiety and superstitious awe.

Lord Combermere now arrived, and if his own
interest in the mystery could have failed to induce
him to seek the re-opening of the vault, the assem-
bled masses gave ample testimony of the universal
gratification his request had given.

He at once proceeded to examine the structure.

146

STARTS HISTORY A ND GUIDE.

All was secure, and appeared exactly as it had done
when he left it after being closed, the cement was
unbroken, and the large impressions of the governor's
seal were as sharp and perfect as when made, but
now hardened into stone. Each person present who
had before made private marks, satisfied himself
that they were untouched and unaltered ; and the
command having been given, the masons proceeded
to break the cement and slide off the door. The

cement yielded as usual
to their instruments, but
when they endeavoured to
remove, the stone it re-
sisted with unwonted
weight ; increased force
was applied, but still it
remained immovable. For
a moment all hands were
stilled, and a look of won-
dering dismay passed from
each to each, but it was
only for a moment — the
next, excitement lent a
powerful energy, and the stone yielded an aperture of
half an inch, enough to afford a peep-hole ; yet nothing
was visible in the darkness of its buried night, save
where its tiny ray of light entered through the narrow
crevice and seemed to cut across some black object-
close to the portal, so near, that its own thread-like
ray lay brightly visible, prevented by this massive
black something from dispersing itself into the reign-
ing darkness within.

Awe a second time paralyzed the energy of those
engaged. Suspense deepened the intensity of in-
terest and lent a dreadness to the terror of that mass
of anxious spectators. A hush, as when nature sleeps
under the pall of midnight, sealed every breath, lest
they fail to catch the first whisper of those near the

PLATE No. II.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 147

tomb that might offer a solution of the problem
before them.

Increased force was lent to move the stone, and
inch by inch it yielded till it was slid sufficiently
aside to admit of a person's entering, and then it was
discovered that the huge leaden coffin, marked 3 in
Plate I, was standing upon its head with its feet rest-
ing against the middle of the stone door, as shown in
Plate II. This coffin, which it required seven or
eight men to move, was removed from its central
place (see Plate I) and placed in this remarkable
position, yet the sand on the floor bore no trace of
footprint or of having been in any way disturbed.
The coffin of an infant (No. 6 Plate I) had been
hurled with such force against the opposite wall near
which it was lying, that the corner had left a deep
indentation in the stone work.

Lord Combermere directed one of the gentlemen
of his staff to make an accurate drawing of the posi-
tion of the coffins ; a copy of which he forwarded to
the Colonial Office with his despatch relative to the
occurrence ; from which the above illustrations were
made.

The family immediately ordered the coffins to be
removed and buried in separate graves. After which
the vault was abandoned, in which state it still
remains."

As to the authenticity of the foregoing statements
there can be no doubt, for it is attested to by Lord
Combermere and Thomas Harrison Orderson, Rector
of Christ Church at that time, and is mentioned by
Schomburgk and many others who remembered the
circumstance.

1 48 STA RK'S HISTOR Y AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XIV.

HACKELTON'S CLIFF, ST. JOHN'S CHURCH,
PALEOLOGUS, INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.

Hackleton's Cliff is easily reached from Bathsheba
by those who can walk or ride, and is distant about a
mile and a half from that place. The cliff is bold
and steep and is 1,000 feet in height. Its face is
covered with grasses, ferns, creeping plants and
various species of palms. The view from the " Top
of the Cliff " is grand. On every piece of projecting
rock some tree has literally planted itself, so that at
a little distance, and seen from below, the range of
cliffs look like walls of foliage. Some distance to
the south, but still on the same plateau, is the parish
church of " St. John," perched on the very edge of
the chasm, which descends deep and dark to the
valley lying so far below. St. John's Church is most
easily reached by the tourist by driving along ex-
cellent roads from Bridgetown.

The former church was destroyed in the hurri-
cane of 1831. The present structure was built a
short time afterwards, and is considered one of the
prettiest churches in the island. The prospect from
the churchyard towards St. Joseph's and St. Andrew's
is sublime ; the hilly and undulating regions of that
district, the peculiar formation of the cliffs and the
deep blue color of the sea, edged with white where
the waves wash the shore, form an interesting picture.
If the eye glances southwards, the comparatively

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 149

level ground of St. Philip's parish is seen studded
with numerous small buildings, forming a strong con-
trast with the hilly appearance of the northeastern
prospect. At the foot lie some plantations, with
gray-looking buildings, although from such a height
there seems to be scarcely any space left for erecting
buildings between the foot of the cliff and the sea
shore. A large mass of the cliff has glided down
from its original site, leaving a chasm ; a huge rock,
having the appearance of au old watch-tower covered,
instead of the northern ivy, with tropical lianas and
straggling shrubs, rises about thirty feet, and forms
a remarkable object in the prospect. No description
can do justice to the prospect from this point, or to
that from the Cotton Tower on Hackelton's Cliff. To
stand at either of these points when the sun is setting,
and the lower part of the valley lying between the
foot of the cliff and the sea is every moment assum-
ing deeper tones of darkness and eclipse, is an ex-
perience not soon to be forgotten.

A peculiar interest is attached to this churchyard,
as being the resting place of the last of the Paleologi,
a descendant of that imperial race, whom the as-
cendency of eastern barbarians drove from the
sacred city of Constantinople, where now in lieu of
the Cross, its temples are surmounted by the Cres-
cent. Of the correctness of this assertion, antiquarin
research have proved the truth.*

When the victorious followers of the Crescent had
driven those who survived the last terrible assault
into distant lands, or enslaved them, the remnant of
the proud family of the Constantines wandered over
the countries of Europe seeking a rest and home.
Like many other representatives of fallen fortunes,
the Paleologi gravitated towards England, the refuge
of the oppressed, and so it came about that Ferdi-

*See Schomburgk History of Barbados pp. 229.

150 S TA RK'S HISTOR Y AND GUIDE

nando Paleologus came to Barbados and became
proprietor of an estate now called Ashford.

He occupied many positions of honor and trust
from 1649 to 1678, when he died and was buried in
the parish church of St. John ; leaving one son,
Theodore, who did not long survive his father, and the
estates then passed away from the family, of which
there are no representatives left on the island.

But there, on that high lonely cliff, surely no unfit
spot for the last resting place of the illustrious
descendant of the Greek Emperors, looking towards
the old world, across the still lonely sea, Paleologus
sleeps — his face to the east — waiting to use his own
departing words, "to attend the joyful resurrection
of the just to eternal life."

When the ruins of the church were removed after
the hurricane of 1831, the coffin of Ferdinando
Paleologus was discovered under the organ-loft, in the
vault of Sir Peter Colleton. The circumstance that
the coffin stood in a direction opposite to the usual
method in the vault drew attention to it ; the head
was lying to the west, the feet pointing to the east
according to the Greek custom. The coffin was of
lead, and in it was found a skeleton of extraordinary
size, imbedded in quicklime, which was another Greek
custom.

Although Paleologus had filled the situation of a
vestryman of a Protestant eommunion, the orders
which he must have given with regard to his burial,
prove that he died in the faith of the Greek church.
The coffin was carefully deposited in the vault of
Josiah Heath, of Redland.

It is said that during the last conflict of the Greeks,
for independence, and the delivery of their land from
the oppression of the Turk, a letter was sent to
the authorities in Barbados by the provisional Greek
Government, inquiring whether a male branch of the
Paleologi was still existing on the island, and con-

ENTRANCE TO FARLEY HALL.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 151

veying -the request that, if it should be the case, he
should be provided with the means of returning to
Greece, and the Government would, if required, pay
all the expense of the voyage.

As stated in the first chapter on Barbados, the
island when discovered by the English, had been
depopulated of its native inhabitants by the Spaniards,
who took the Indians away to Espafiola and sold
them as slaves on the pretext of their being Caribs.
That the island had been previously populated, is
further proven by the large number of Indian imple-
ments found in all parts of the island, especially an
article made of the thick part of the interior of the
conch-shell (Strombus gigas], shaped like a gouge and
commonly supposed to be chisels, but which in fact
were used as hoes by the Indians in cultivating the
" manioc " or cassava plant They are found in such
large quantities, that the late Sir Graham Briggs
(who had the largest and best collection of Indian
relics ever collected in Barbados) by giving the
negroes a penny apiece for them, had at his death,
collected a cart load of these hoes, at his residence at
Farley Hill. During a visit to this estate, the writer
was allowed through the kindness of Mr. James
Howell, to select and take away as many as he
desired.

There are many caves on the island that were
formerly occupied by the Indians. In St. Peter's
parish there is one called the " Indian Castle ; " it is
of some extent, and entirely protected by the over-
shelving rock against wind and rain. Near it is a
reservoir of water, partly natural, partly excavated,
called the Indian Pond. The soil here is clayey and
it is supposed that the Indians made their earthen-
ware of it. A large idol, the head of which alone
weighed sixty pounds, was found near here ; it stood
upon a pedestal above three feet high. Several
others, of smaller size and of burnt clay, were like-
wise found in this neighborhood.

152 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Under Mount Gilboa in the parish of St Lucy, is
a large cave, which was one of the resorts of the
Indians. The Rev. Griffith Hughes found here
several of their broken images, pipes, hatchets and
chisels.*

A large cave was discovered in digging a well near
Black Rock in St. Michael's parish. It is about five
hundred yards from the sea, and was only accessible
by a small opening, which was closed by rolling a
large stone before it. In the course of time this had
been covered by bushes and shrubs. It is very
spacious, about forty feet long and fifteen feet in
breadth, and appears to have been a great resort for
the Indians ; the walls exhibit the marks of their
chisels, and contain some niches.

Six-Men's Bay is said to have received its name
from the circumstance that the first settlers saw here
six Indians. It is quite probable that some few
Indians may have been on the island when the crew
of the Olive Blossom first landed. Hughes states in
his history that there was a tradition among the
oldest inhabitants in his day, that Indians were
frequently seen during the early days of the settle-
ment, and that they came from the island of St.
Vincent in their canoes.

*Hughes* History of Barbados p. 7.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 153

CHAPTER XV.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES.

The chief articles of exportation for some years
after the settlement of Bardados, were indigo, cotton,
ginger and aloes, besides several kinds of woods.
The manufacture of sugar does not appear to have
been practiced with much success till about the
middle of the i/th century, when the cultivation of
the sugar cane increased rapidly, and the plant
became, in commercial importance, the island's
most important production. At that period, too,
African labor was introduced. The King's proc-
lamation abolishing slavery was issued in 1833,
and involuntary servitude ceased in 1840. The
largest crop of sugar ever raised in Barbados,
previously to this time, was in 1838, amounting to
32,500 hogsheads of sugar, and 9,305 puncheons of
molasses. On the freeing of the slaves in 1840,
there was exported only 13,500 hogsheads of sugar
and 2,352 puncheons of molasses. The product of
1871 amounted to 53,800 hogsheads of sugar and
33,500 puncheons of molasses. In 1889 the product
amounted to 65,268 hogsheads of sugar and 44,818
puncheons of molasses. The area under sugar cul-
tivation is 100,000 acres. Except in Barbados, the
emancipation of the slaves was disastrous to the
prosperity of the West India Islands, and they have
never yet recovered from the blow thereby dealt at

154 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

their commerce. Immediately after the declaration
of freedom, the profits on the sugar industry began
to decrease, and now it is a struggle for existence
against the bounty-supported, trust sugar of Europe.
A few words here will serve to describe the sys-
tem of making sugar, in operation on most of the
sugar estates in Barbados, where the expensive pro-
cess of boiling in vacuum-pans, are not in use.

WINDMILL AND BOILING HOUSE.

The cane is carried from the field in ox carts, then
passed through the rollers of the grinding mill which
is worked by the wind, nearly every estate depending
upon its windmill for its power. Passing through
the rollers the cane is deprived of its juice, and the
fibre or " trash " is carried on by an endless band to
fall into a cart below, from which it is spread out in
the fields to dry, and in due time finds its way back
to the furnaces in the boiling-house. Meanwhile,
the juice runs through strainers, and is lifted by a
force-pump to oblong troughs which stand near the
chimneys of the furnace. In these troughs it is allowed

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 155

to settle, and the scum rises in a few minutes to the
surface, a gentle heat being applied meanwhile. The
syrup is then drawn off into a train of copper kettles
below, to be converted into sugar. In the first of
these kettles it is treated to a little milk of lime,
which causes the scum to rise to the surface in a
dense body, when it is removed by the negroes with
a common strainer or skimmer. From this pan it is
passed to others, according to its advance towards
crystalization, nearer, and nearer, to the mouth of
the furnace, boiling furiously until it reaches at last,
after a passage of several hours, the " strike pan"
over the very mouth of the furnace. As the entire

one pan is discharged

contents of

:T: into the next, at the same time that
a fresh supply of juice is introduced
from those behind it, all are kept full,
and the scene is very lively when the fires are good and
the syrup boils briskly. A negro watches each pan, or
more frequently has two under his care, and is
actively at work tossing the syrup into the air when
the bubbles become too large and run over into the
next pan, thus showing that there is danger of burn-
ing the sugar. At other times the negroes are busy

156 STARK* S HISTORY AND GUIDE

skimming off, with a light hand, any scum that might
arise.

The most delicate process in the manufacture of
sugar, is the test of it when it reaches the last pan
and becomes thick. In the last few minutes before
it is fit to be removed from the fire, the crystals
form with great rapidity, and the sugar-master is
constantly trying the syrup with his finger and
thumb, the " touch test." When the sugar reaches
this state, there is much danger of burning, and
upon the skill of the sugar-master, in making the
"strike " at the right moment, will depend the quality
of the sugar.

From the strike-pan the sugar is run into shallow
coolers where it remains for about twenty-four hours,
and is then transferred to cones, such as are used in
sugar-refineries, to drain off the molasses. Some-
times the " strike " is passed into a long narrow
box with fenders six feet high on two sides of it.
Two negroes, taking their position at either end, toss
the syrup into the air with copper ladles working on
pivots, until it is so exposed to the air as to be frothy,
and crusts the sides of the box like the spongy lava
around the crater of a volcano. It is then passed
directly into the cones and crystalizes in a few hours.

The object of crystahzing in shallow pans is that
the crystals, floating loosely in a greater space may
form freely and of a large grain. Those who crys-
talize in cones say that the sa'me object is obtained
by gently stirring the cooling syrup once or twice on
the first day. On the second day the cone is moved
into the purging-house, and is not touched again for
three weeks, except once to remove the plug at the
bottom of the inverted cone that the molasses may
drain off into proper receptacles, to be boiled again
and dried as muscovado sugar. A cloth is laid over the
top of the cone while the molasses is draining, and
soft mud or clay spread upon it.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 157

This draining of the contained water through the
sugar drives the molasses before it to the apex of
the cone, and after twenty days the loaf of sugar in
the cone is found to be hard, white at the base, brown
in the middle and yellow at the top with molasses at
the apex.

READY FOR MARKET.

In the early days of the settlement, the planters
had considerable trouble in transporting their sugar
to Bridgetown on account of the gullies and poor
roads. Camels were used for this purpose, as is
shown on a rare and curious" map published by Ligon
in his History of Barbados in 1647. He says, " First
I must name Camels, and these are very useful
beasts, but very few will live upon the Island, divers
of them have been brought over, but few know how
to dyet them. Captain Higginbotham had four or
five, which were of excellent use, not only for carry-

158 STARK'S HISTO-RY AND GUIDE

ing down sugar to the bridge, but of bringing from
thence hogsheads of Wine, Beer or Vinegar, which
horses cannot do, nor carts pass for gullies and
negroes cannot carry it, a good camel will carry 1,600
pounds weight and go the surest of any beast."

This curious map shows the hunting of runaway
negroes, also where the Indian slaves dwelt, and
their canoes. The hunting of wild hogs, and the
parts of the island where the cattle, sheep and pack
horses were kept and the names of all of the
planters, and the location of their houses. The copy
shown in this work is an exact photographic repro-
duction from the original.

In the Scotland district there are mineral products
of great economic and commercial importance to the
people of Barbados. But very little outlay of capital
would be required, and it would afford employment
to the surplus population, making a material improve-
ment in- the condition of the laboring classes and
increasing the commerce and revenue of the island.
First among others is the petroleum and asphalt
deposits. At present the industry of collecting and
refining this substance is in a languishing condition ;
it is chiefly employed as a lubricant, and as a con-
stituent in certain quack medicines. It might become
of great importance to the planters as a fuel for use
in the works, and could be used in the present fur-
naces by steeping the cane trash in the petroleum ;
but to obtain the full advantage of its use, special
furnaces would have to be constructed.

The chalky beds of the oceanic series possess a
value, partly from their chemical composition and
partly from the fact of their lying close to the dark
clays, the two deposits forming the materials for the
manufacture of cement. This ought to form the
basis of an important industry, and should enable
Barbados to furnish the West Indies with a good and
cheap cement at a moderate cost. There is a com-

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 159

pany now being formed for the making of cement,
and if this business is followed up with energy, it
will be one of the most prominent industries of the
island.

In certain parts of the coral-rock Barbados pos-
sesses excellent material for burning into lime ; and
as there is a great demand for lime throughout the
West Indies, a good export trade ought to be de-
veloped. The best of coral will contain from 90 to
98 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and the lime which
is made from it is quite equal in quality to the best
Bristol lime, which is at present the kind most
favored by West Indian planters.

The fine sandy clays which occur in the Scotland
district are of considerable thickness, from which
excellent bricks, tiles and pottery is now being made.
As this industry is further developed, buildings
will be constructed of bricks, which will be drier than
those made of coral rock, and will possess a much
more pleasing color and appearance.

In the middle portion of the oceanic series, beds of
white earth occur of exceedingly light specific grav-
ity, and almost purely silicious. This material
is now used as a boiler-covering or felting, through
the British West Indies and in the most important
works of British Guiana. Another use for which
this earth can be put, is the preparation oi polishing
powders, its freedom from all gritty matter making
it peculiarly suitable for this purpose.

The telephone has been established in Barbados
with great success. Nowhere in the world has fuller
advantage been taken of this invention than here.
This is probably due to the fact that charges are
very moderate, $2.50 per month, the distances very
short, and the customers very numerous, nearly »very
well-to-do person being on the telephone list. The
enterprise has proved not only a great convenience
to the public, but a profitable investment for the
shareholders who started it.

160 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

- f- n ? f

'V&-

^ V-Jhe/rB^bados Railway has also proved to be of
'great advantage to the island. The project of con-
necting-the different parishes by a system of rail-
roads which was to centre in Bridgetown was first
agitated in 1845 I the railroad has now been in
successful operation for several years.

The Horse-cars or " Tramways " have also been
of great advantage to Barbados, as the several lines
that centre in Bridgetown render the suburbs of the
town very accessible, and enables parties that do
not own their own carriages, the opportunity of
living in the country instead of the crowded part of
the town, where they formerly resided.

The introduction of a water supply to Bridgetown
and the country districts was a great boon to the
inhabitants, there being a supply of pure water now
within reach of every household.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS 161

CHAPTER XVI.

RELIGION AND EDUCA TION.

The greater part of the population of Barbados
belong to the Episcopal Church, the places of worship
of this denomination exceeding in number and seating
capacity those of the other sects all put together.
The census of 1882 gives the Church of England a
following of 156,539.

There is but one Roman Catholic chapel on the
island ; it is situated about half a mile from Bridge-
town opposite the General Hospital, and close to
Bay Road leading from Bridgetown to Hastings and
Worthing. The chapel is a handsome little structure,
and near by, within the grounds and separated from
the burial ground by a carriage drive, is the residence
of the mission priest. The congregation is smaller
than might be expected, for it would be supposed
that the ritual of the Church of Rome, the images,
and pictured walls, with the altar and its surroundings,
would prove an irresistible attraction for the negro
mind ; but the staid decorum and solemnity of the
service is burdensome to these people who like to
give vent to their excited feelings in impromptu
groanings, amens, and glory hallelujahs, and are
pleased to imagine they can hear when " Gabriel
blow he trumpet in de mornin' " and see " de golden
stairs." For this reason the Salvation Army and
the Methodists is more to the liking of the negro
mind, for they allow more scope for the display of

1 62 S TA RK'S HISTOR Y AND GUIDE

individual feeling than in either the Roman or An-
gelican church. The total Roman Catholic popula-
tion of Barbados, according to the census of 1882, is
only 8 1 6.

The Methodists- possess several neat and commo-
dious chapels, one in James street Bridgetown, one
in the Bay Road, one near the Garrison on the
Dalkeith Road, and others in the country districts.
They have also several ministers of good attainments
and zeal, who are engaged in what may still be termed
mission work. The census of 1882 gives the Metho-
dists a following of 14,485.

The Quakers, with that benevolent feeling, for
converting the heathen to Christianity, so prominent
in their character, saw a wide field open for their
exertions after the introduction of African slaves.
Their endeavors to instruct the negroes were, how-
ever, considered dangerous, as promulgating a sense
of equality, which might lead to insurrections, and
many were obliged to leave the island in consequence
of severe prosecution. On the 2ist of April 1676,
an Act passed the Council to prevent negroes from
attending the religious meetings of Quakers ; this
caused all the Quakers to finally leave the island.

Their place was taken by another sect, the Mor-
avians, or United Brethren, who led the way as
missionaries for the propagation of the gospel among
the heathen of the West Indies. Their unassuming
and humble conduct, and non-interference with the
political, and domestic, state of the field of their
operation, and their religious zeal, soon gained them
the esteem of their fellowmen, and likewise obtained
for them the approbation and encouragement of
numerous private individuals, who by bequests in
favor of the missions, showed the appreciation they
entertained of their pious exertions. The work of
this society at the present time lie in the country
districts, where their efforts for the promotion of

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAKIBBEE ISLANDS. 163

primary education have proved valuable civilizers.
The Moravians numbered 6,80 1 in the census of 1882.

The Jews settled here as early as 1628 and although
they were occasionally subjected to persecution and
oppression, the policy they exhibited in keeping on
good terms with the powers that were, caused their
civil rights to be extended in 1680, and their testi-
mony, which had been long rejected in the courts of
law, was from that time admitted in all civil suits,
upon an oath taken upon the five books of Moses,
according to the tenets of their religion. At one
period the congregation consisted of a very large
number, but from deaths and the return of many of the
European families to England, the number has been
reduced to almost nothing, there being but 21 Jews
on the island when the last census was taken in
1882. The circumstance of their having so many as
five burial grounds, three of which are completely
filled, and a synagogue which is considered to be
one of the handsomest and most substantial building
of its kind in the West Indies, proves that the con-
gregation must have been considerable.

The name of the congregation is " Kaal Kadosh
Nidhe Israel f' or the holy, scattered congregation of
Israel. The synagogue was so severely injured by the
great hurricane in 1831 that it was deemed necessary
to erect a new edifice. The present building was
erected in 1833 at a cost of $14,000 which was en-
tirely met by the funds of the community without
any outside assistance of any kind.

The Episcopal churches and chapels are thickly
scattered over the island ; the clergy list for Barba-
dos containing between forty and fifty names of those
who are engaged in ministerial work in one way or
another. The parish church of St. Michael's parish,
sometimes called the cathedral, is situated in Bridge-
town. It is a large but not a handsome structure.
There is no dean or capitular body and the bishop of

164 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

the diocese is in the same position towards the rector
of the church that he is to any other.

The Chapel of " St. Paul " and that named from
St. Ambrose are also in the vicinity of Bridgetown
and in St. Michael's parish. There is another chapel
in the village of Hastings, St. Matthias', quite con-
venient to the Marine Hotel. Visitors who wish to
avail themselves of full church privileges can easily
do so in Barbados, except when they are staying at
Bathsheba, from which it is very difficult to reach a
church. The parish church of St. Joseph's is the
nearest, but the road to it is very steep ; and although
the building itself is handsome and the service good,
people staying at Bathsheba do not as a rule think
of attending there.

Although the Episcopal church may be said to be
the established church in Barbados, yet as the prin-
ciple of concurrent endowment is acknowledged, and
any denomination can establish a claim on the revenue
of the island for an amount, greater or less, accord-
ing to the number of its adherents, there is no
jealousy, or very little felt, against it. There is a de-
cided impression here that religion is, among this
teeming, ignorant and impulsive population, the chief
bulwark of social order.

One of the greatest obstacles to the civilization of
the negroes, is their superstitious and Unreasoning
belief and dread of anything coming under the head
of what they call " Obeah " or " Voodooism." These
degrading and superstitious beliefs in the occult
power, were brought from Africa by their ancestors,
and it is astonishing what a hold it has upon them
notwithstanding the teachings of Christian clergy-
men. A minister said recently, "I can assure you
that one of the greatest obstacles I meet with in my
work among my parishoners, is their foolish and deeply
rooted belief in the power of the Obeah man, which
meets me at every turn.' I have tried everything

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR IB BEE ISLANDS. 165

to combat his baneful influence, but with little effect.
I have endeavored to prove to them how ridiculous
and senseless their ideas are. I obtain only a seem-
ing acquiescence and make no lasting impression."

During slavery days the practice of Obeah was
rampant in all the West Indian colonies, and laws
were passed to put it down, and combat its baneful
influence. There were few of the large estates which
had not one or more Obeah men among their slaves.
They were usually the oldest and most crafty of the
blacks ; those whose hoary heads and harsh and
forbidding aspect, together with some skill in plants
of the medicinal and poisonous species, and in the
superstitious rites, which they brought with them
from Guinea and the Congo, qualified them for
successful impositions on the weak and credulous.
A great loss of slave property was caused by their
poisonings through their use of poisonous roots,
and plants unknown to science, found in every
tropical wood. The secret and insidious manner
in which the crime is generally perpetrated makes
detection exceedingly difficult. It is this fear
that causes the negroes to dread and venerate any
man with the reputation of " working Obeah." He
is looked upon by all with the greatest deference.

One day while the writer was taking a stroll in
Barbados, he dropped into a wayside court-house.
An " Obeah " case was being tried the; defendant
was accused of working Obeah on a woman by placing
a coffin on her doorstep, which was produced in
evidence. It consisted of a small coffin of cardboard,
about six inches in length, covered with black satin ;
a large seed dressed in black and white pieces
of a shroud to represent the corpse, was in the coffin ;
and also a parrot's feather, a small bottle containing a
liquid, and graveyard dust, pieces of .a shroud from
a grave, rusty nails from a coffin, several coins, round
pellets, like marbles and several other articles, all of

166 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

which had a meaning to the superstitious negroes.
There not being sufficient evidence against the
accused, he was discharged ; and the judge very kindly
presented me with the " Obeah " which has a place
now in my cabinet.

Voodooism exists, not only in the West Indies,
but also in the United States, especially in Louisiana,
and, strange to say, even in Boston, the most cultured
city in the United States. The Boston Herald, the
leading paper in New England, recently published an
article five and a half columns long, the object of
which was to demonstrate that it existed to an
alarming extent among the negroes of Boston and
New England generally. The Herald says :

" Voodooism, of which much has been hinted, a little
written, but almost nothing known, one of the blackest,
cruelist and most heathen forms of idolatry the world
has ever seen, exists today to an alarming extent right here
in Puritan New England."

Most white Bostonians believed that the article
was full of exaggerations, but to the general surprise,
the negroes practically admitted the impeachment,
by passing a resolution at the meeting of the Colored
National League, held in Boston in July, 1889, con-
demning "the practice of that degrading superstition,
Voodooism, which exist here in Boston among the
illiterate and ignorant of our race."

As early as the commencement of the eighteenth
century, the legislature of Barbados had under con-
sideration the erection of a college and its endow-
ment, for the purpose of educating the youth of the
island, instead of sending them to Great Britain ;
which in many instances the means of the parents
would not permit. It appears that the young gentle-
men from Barbados, distinguished themselves at
that period in the universities in England by the
" gaiety of their dress and equipage."

TO BARbADOS AND THE CARiBBEE ISLANDS. 167

About this time General Codington must have
conceived the idea of bequeathing sufficent property
for this purpose to the " Society for -the Propagation
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," as the will by which
he devises this property is dated 1702, and is as
follows :

" I give and bequeath my two plantations in the island
of Barbados to the Society for the Propagation of the
Christian Religion in Foreign Parts, erected and estab-
lished by my late good master, King William III. ; and
my desire is to have the plantation continued entire, and
three hundred negroes, at least always kept thereon, and a
convenient number of professors and scholars maintained
there, all of them to be under the vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience ; who shall be obliged to study and prac-
tice physic and chirurgery, as well as divinity ; and by the
apparent usefulness of the former to all mankind, they may
both endear themselves to the people, and have better
opportunities of doing good to men's souls, whilst they are
taking care of their bodies; but the particulars of the
constitution I leave to the Society, composed of wise and
good men."

The author of " European Possessions in America "
stated that " Colonel Christopher Codrington was
noted for his amiable and useful qualities both in
public and private life, for his courage and zeal for
the good of his country, his humanity, his knowledge
and love of literature, and was by far the richest pro-
duction and most shining ornament Barbados ever
had."

This distinguished individual, of whom frequent
mention has been made in this work, was the son of
General Codrington, the brave companion in arms of
Sir Timothy Thornhill. He was born in Barbados
in 1668, and was educated at Christ Church,
Oxford. Having taken in that college, one degree,
he was admitted in 1689 Probationer Fellow of All
Souls' College ; afterwards, entering the army, he

168 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

was at the seige of Namur. Upon the conclusion of
the peace of Ryswick, he was appointed Captain-
General and Governor of the Leeward Islands, and
showed great bravery at the attack on Guadaloupe
on the 1 2th of March 1703. He shortly afterward
resigned his offices and applied himself chiefly
to literature. He died at Barbados on the 7th of
April 1710, and was buried at Bridgetown the follow-
ing day ; but his body was afterwards carried to
England, and interred in the Chapel of All Souls'
College, Oxford ; to which college he left his col-
lection of books valued at ^6,000 .sterling, and
;£ 10,000 sterling in money for the erection of a
library.

It was only after the opening of the will that the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel became
acquainted with the munificent bequest of the planta-
tions, which were computed to yield an annual income
of .£2,000 sterling, clear of all charges. They were
called Consett's and Codrington's estates, and con-
sisted of 763 acres of land, three windmills, with the
necessary buildings for the cultivation and manufac-
ture of sugar, 315'negroes and 100 head of cattle.

In 1716 it was resolved to commence building the
college. A commission had been appointed, consist-
ing of the Governor and other influential persons in
the colony, to superintend the erection of the building.
Colonel William Codrington promised the timber
necessary to repair all the buildings upon the estate
for seven years to come, and five hundred guineas
for the purchase of books. The government prom-
ised its assistance, by permitting the cutting of
timber in Tobago and St. Vincent, and the convey-
ance of same by ships of the royal navy to Barbados.
Mr. John Lane presented the college with a bell,
which proved very acceptable. A number of
mechanics were sent from England, and the masonry
of the buildings was finished in 1721. The coral

TO BAKE AD OS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 169

limestone for the building was taken from a hill in
front of the building ; it was easily worked into various
designs without much labor, and after exposure to
the weather became quite hard. The college building
remained for many years unfinished, on account of a
debt due to the Society's general fund from the
Codrington estates which it did not clear off until
1738.

Rev. Thomas Rotherham, M. A. of Queen's Col-
lege, Oxford, was appointed schoolmaster and Mr.
Joseph Bewsham, B. A., usher and catechist. Their
instructions were to teach gratis twenty children, the
sons of persons who could not afford to educate them
in the learned languages, and these children to be
maintained in diet, washing and lodging, at the
expense of the Society.

In 1745 Mr. Bryant, of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, was appointed Professor of Philosophy and
Mathematics ; he was to instruct not only the scholars
of the foundations, but also such young gentlemen
of Barbados as should be desirous of receiving
instruction. In 1748 there were thirty scholars
exclusive of those of the foundation ; and the testa-
tor's will may be considered to have been executed
at that period to its full extent.

This flourishing state did not last long. Mr.
Bryant died, and subsequent ill health rendered the
resignation of Mr. Rotherham necessary. Several
other changes also ensued which were not calculated
to improve the institution. During the destructive
hurricane of 1780 the estate received great damage,
and part of the college, particularly the chapel, was
much injured, the roof being blown off, the walls,
however, remaining standing.

Several years passed without any material change.
In 1813 the number of boys on the foundation was
reduced to twelve, who were boarded by the principal
at his house ; £40 per annum being allowed for the

170 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

board of each boy. This reduction was undertaking
with a view of substituting a stipend of ^100 sterling
per annum, for such of the foundation scholars as
should distinguish themselves by diligence and good
conduct, and be desirous of prosecuting their studies
in either divinity, law or physics, in one of the
English universities. A minister was provided for
the instruction of the negroes, and schools upon the
national system were founded upon each trust estate.

In 1825 Barbados became the seat of the Bishopric
of the Windward and Leeward Islands ; it was then
resolved that the constitution of the college should
be so far amended as to admit of the appointment of
a principal and tutor with a view to the preparation
of a certain number of students for holy orders;
twelve of whom, maintained and educated free of any
charge, should be chosen from any part of his
Majesty's West India possessions : and that " in
order to meet the wishes of the benevolent provider
in every particular way, a medical professor be ap-
pointed to give lectures to the students in physics
and chirurgery. Further, that in connection and in
subordination to this establishment at the college,
a seminary be opened at the residence of the Chap-
lain, wherein a limited number of boys may be
admitted for gratuitous education, and be prepared,
if such be the wish of the parents, as candidates for
their future admission into the higher department."
Thus the foundation of a university was laid, and the
Bishop of Barbados was appointed Visitor, instead of
the principal civil authorities, who had previously
been authorized to act as such.

On Thursday, September Qth 1830, the day ap-
pointed for the opening of the college, (on which day
in 1745 the school was first opened), the students
repaired to Codrington College, and all persons of
official rank having been invited to attend, the
ceremony began about noon. The exhibitioners

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 171

habited in the scholar's cap and gown of Oxford, and
the commoners in the usual dress of commoners of
that university, headed the procession from the
principal lodge to the great entrance of the College
Hall, and were followed by the Principal, Tutors,
Bishop and Archdeacon of Barbados and the Governor,
Sir James Lyon and other public officials.

Who of those that assisted or were present at
these solemnities could have thought that before a
year had elapsed, the buildings of the college would
be unroofed and so much injured by the dreadful
hurricane of 1831, that the residents were rendered
houseless. Each wing of the colleges was over-
thrown ; the hall, chapel, library and steward's
offices were demolished, and all the out-buildings
thrown down. The most necessary repairs of the
college, after the hurricane, amounted to ,£1,500.
The chapel and other buildings, which are very
prettily situated in the parish of St. John's near
the sea, still bear the scars of its old wounds,
although restored.

The drive to Codrington College is very fine and
the scenery beautiful. It should not be on any
account omitted by visitors who would desire to see
what is best worth seeing in Barbados. This college
is affiliated to the University of Durham, and its
students are admissible to all Degrees, Licences and
Academical ranks in the several Faculties of that
university.

Besides Codrington College, Barbados is well sup-
plied with schools. A sum of £ 1 5,000 is appropriated
from the public revenue yearly, and placed at the
disposal of the Education Board under certain fixed
regulations for the general purpose of education.
There are two schools of the first grade for boys,
Harrison College and The Lodge, and one school of
the first rank for girls, Queen College.

Harrison College was founded as a " Free School "

172 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

in 1733 by Thomas Harrison, a merchant of Bridge-
town, who purchased a piece of land adjoining the
parish church of St. Michael, the present cathedral,
upon which he erected a spacious building. These
premises he conveyed by deed, July 3Oth 1733, to
certain trustees, who were empowered to elect proper
masters, and to place on the foundation of the school
twenty-four poor and indigent boys of the parish, to
be instructed in reading, writing, ciphering and the
Latin and Greek languages, without fee or reward ;
the master or masters to have liberty to take into the
school and teach upon pay any other scholars, for
their own benefits.

Mr. Moxly, the author of "A West Indian Sana-
torium " in referring to this school says, " Having
had much experience in school work, and having for
several years in succession been mathematical ex-
aminer of Harrison's College, I feel bound to state
that I never knew a school in which the teaching was
more thorough and effectually done." It may well
seem a surprising thing to find on this coral-bank in
' the midst of the ocean, and under the tropical sun,
a school from which boys go direct to compete
successfully for the open scholarships of the most
famous colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, and that
the names of its old boys appear in the lists of
" firsts."

It is true that the principal is assisted by a staff
of university men ; but when the difficulties in the
way, and the limited area from which pupils are
drawn are considered, the success of the school
seems astonishing. A " preparatory class " for boys
of about nine years of age has been formed and given
into the sole charge of a university man of experience
and skill in teaching, who devotes all his time to
these little fellows. It is thus, by beginning with
the most thorough work and the best methods at the
very outset, that the school has gained its present

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 173

position. There is probably no Barbadian institution
of which the islanders have more reason to be proud
than Harrison's College.

The buildings stand in extensive grounds, amid
many fine trees. The Government Laboratory, is
located in a wing of the present school building, and
the " Island Professor of Chemistry," a gentleman
of distinction in the scientific world, lectures certain
classes of the pupils, and also a class of the girls
from the Queen's College.

The Lodge School, St. John's parish, is an old
school resuscitated, it has not yet had time to gain
distinction by the success of its pupils either at the
universities or in the struggle for existence in the
outer world, but it is expected from its progress
hitherto, soon to take a prominent position. The
Master is allowed to take private boarders by the
Governing Board.

Queen's College, for girls, is quite a new, though
already flourishing institution. It is located in suit-
able buildings within a quarter of a mile of Bridge-
town. The head teacher and her assistants, are
ladies possessing excellent qualifications and experi-
ence gained in good schools in England, and in their
hands Queen's College is daily becoming more and
more of a necessity.

There are four second-grade public schools. The
Combermere, of Bridgetown, (formerly the Boys Cen-
tral School) was founded in 1819 for the maintenance
and education of poor white children from different
parishes of the island. Lord Combermere, when
Governor of Barbados, took the liveliest interest in
the promotion of this school.

The Alleyne School of St. Andrew's parish, (for-
merly the Seminary), was erected and endowed in the'
year 1785 by Sir John Gay Alleyne, Bart; then
Speaker of the House of Assembly. A bequest of
^20 per year, payable out of the Blower plantation,

174 STARR'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

to be applied to this school, was left by J. Bryant,
and also an equal amount to the parish of St. Thomas
and to the parish of St. James, for a similar purpose.

The other second-grade school is the Coleridge
School of St. Peters, and the Parry School of St.
Lucy's, (formerly St. Lucy's Middle School).

The primary schools are scattered over the
island in' great numbers. The pupils are taught
reading, writing and arithmetic, and in many of the
schools the girls receive instruction in needlework.
The public schools are open to all, irrespective of
color or creed. The color line is drawn only in the
private schools, which are numerous throughout the
island.

The public library of Barbados is in Bridgetown,
and is located in one of the public buildings forming
one side of Trafalgar Square. The library was
established by law in 1847, and is supported by an
annual grant of ^625 ; of which sum ^300 are de-
voted to the purchase of books and periodicals, and
the remainder, ^325, is expended in salaries and
incidental expenses. The library is perfectly free
and open to all, and is conducted in a manner reflect-
ing great credit upon those responsible for its
management. During the writer's stay in Barbados,
he had time and occasion to make much use of
the library, where he found many rare books kept
in excellent order, ready to the hand of the librarian,
the Rev. J. E. S. Walcott, an exceedingly courteous
and well informed gentleman. I am greatly in-
debted to him for his kindness in enabling me to
make the most of the short time I could spend
in examining the treasures of which he was the
custodian.

The library contains in all about 21,000 volumes,
of which an excellent catalogue combining the name
of the author, book and subject, has been arranged
by the present librarian, who has also introduced the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CAR IBB EE ISLANDS. 175

use of a very valuable " indicator" by which the
intending borrower can see at a glance whether any
book is "in" or "out" on loan. It is, however, to
be regretted that there is no reading room attached
to the library, as it would be a great boon to the young
business men of Bridgetown who have no place of
resort in the evenings unless they belong to the
Club. It is to be hoped that the Legislature will
take steps in that direction, and thus largely increase
the utility of the institution at a very small additional
expense.

Another useful and valuable addition could be
made to the library at very little cost, which would
prove of great interest to strangers and of value to
the inhabitants of Barbados. I refer to a museum
of Barbadian curiosities, which should comprise
a collection of the geological specimens wherein the
island is so rich ; of the natural productions of
Barbados, including a full collection of marine
specimens : and above all, a collection of Indian
implements and weapons, which are now becoming
very scarce even in Barbados.

It is to be forever regretted that the fine collection
that belonged to Sir Graham Briggs was not secured
for the benefit of the island ; yet if a nucles was
formed, there is no doubt that in time, an equally
good collection could be gathered together, as
relics of the aboriginal inhabitants are continually
being found, though the very existence in Barbados
of such Indians has been questioned.

176 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XVII.

THE GEOLOGY OF BARBADOS.

Six-sevenths of the whole area of Barbados consist
of coral rock or limestone, constructed from the
broken debris of corals, and of the shells and other
organisms which live on coral reefs. The other
seventh comprises what is known as the " Scotland
rock," which comes to the surface in the northeastern
part of the island, and consists of thick-bedded sand-
stones, coarse grits, bituminous sandstones, and
shales, dark-grey and mottled clays, with nodules of
ironstone. This latter formation, forms the core and
basis of the whole island, and has been reached in
-different places, through the coral formation, by some
of the borings made recently by the Water Supply
Company.

Barbados presents one of the most remarkable
instances of a coral island, which, by gradual and
successive, elevatory movements, has been raised to
a height of nearly twelve hundred feet above the sea ;
differing entirely from the formation of the Bermadas
or Bahamas, which consist entirely of aeolian sand-
stone— coral sands drifted up by the winds, and
cemented together by the action of the rain.

There are no volcanic rocks in Barbados ; the idea
that a core of volcanic rock was exposed in the north-
eastern part of the island, is a mistake. The layers
of volcanic sand which are interstratified with the

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 177

deposits in this district demonstrate the existence
of an active volcano somewhere in the Caribbean
region during the period of their accumulation.
Some of this sand is so fine that it appears like silt
or mud, and thus may have been carried by the wind
for many hundred miles before it dropped into the
ocean. In the same manner the showers of volcanic
dust fell on Barbados and the surrounding sea in
May, 1812, as is still so well remembered in this
island. There can be but little doubt, however, that
the upheaval of the island was due to volcanic
agency, and that it took place at a time when volcanic
eruption occurred in some of the other Caribbean
Islands.

It is not improbable that a local uplift was caused
by the uprise of a mass of lava into the underlying
rocks, forcing a portion of these upward, without
leading to the establishing of a volcanic vent. It is
known that a rising column of lava has sometimes
found it easier to lift a mass of rock bodily than to
rend its way through it ; in such cases the lava has
flowed laterally along the plane of separation, and
occupies a space below the strata it has lifted. Such
a cake or cistern of solidified lava may lie beneath
Barbados. The supposition of such a subterraneous
intruded mass of rock would explain the arched
position which the oceanic deposits now occupy.
These consist of infusorial earth, skeletons of
the minute oceanic creatures, mixed with broken
spicules which were originally part of the framework
of siliceous sponges, such as is now found in the
Pacific and Atlantic ooze at a depth of 1,000 fathoms,
forming the floors of the great oceans. This oceanic
deposit forms a portion of a thick sheet, which at
Mount Hillaby is about three hundred feet deep,
covering a dome-shaped surface of the older rocks
— this surface descending from the central part of
the island in every direction to the sea level.

178 STAKES HISTORY AND GUIDE

The geological history of Barbados commences at
a period when the sandstones of the Scotland series
were being accumulated ; and as these beds consist of
coarse sand, they cannot have been deposited very
far from a shore nor in very deep water, rocks of
this kind are in fact almost always formed in shallow
water within 20 miles of land. It is clear, therefore,
that the geography of the Caribbean region must at
this early period have had a very different form from
that which it now presents. There must have been
a land area of some size in the vicinity of Barbados
to furnish the materials of which these sandstones
are composed. Whether it was connected with the
continent or was only a large island, it is impossible
to determine ; but it must have had mountain ranges
consisting of hard rocks, like those which form the
mountains in the north of Trinidad, or those in the
central ranges of Jamaica or San Domingo. It is
quite certain that none of this ancient land is now
left above the sea within 100 miles of Barbados, and
it is possible that the northern part of Trinidad
formed a portion of this land, for there is much
resemblance between the rocks of Barbados and
Trinidad.

It is also certain that there were strong and rapid
rivers capable of carrying large quantities of sand
and mud down to the sea in which the Scotland
stratum was formed. It is probable that at the time
when these strata were being accumulated the land
was slowly sinking beneath the sea ; this is infered
partly from the great total thickness of the Scotland
series and of similar series in Trinidad, and partly
from the fact that the highest beds are clays with
nodules of ironstone, which are likely to have been
deposited in rather deeper water than the sandstones.
Therefore, it must be said that the first episode in
the geological history of Barbados was the formation
of the Scotland series in comparatively shallow

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 179

water, owing its origin to the detritus carried down
by rivers running off a land composed of quatz-
bearing rocks.

Between this episode and the next, it is impossible
to say how long a period of time elapsed ; but it can
be safely inferred that this intervening period closed
with a great and profound subsidence, which carried
the previously formed strata down to the bottom of
the ocean : and that what is now the island of Barba-
dos was then buried beneath a depth of ocean-water
that amounted to at least from 1,000 to 2,000
fathoms. It was then that the infusorial and cal-
carious earth which forms the Oceanic series pre-
viously described, was formed, which is similar to the
oozes (siliceous muds) which are being accumulated
on the floors of the great oceans at the present time.
The layers of volcanic sands which are interstratified
with these deposits contain large particles of felspar
and pumice, and suggest that the volcanic vent was
within 200 or 300 miles of Barbados ; though it may
have come from some of the volcanos which still exist
to the westward.

The third period in the geological history of Bar-
bados was the volcanic uplift, previously described,
which was accompanied or followed by a general
elevation of the whole Caribbean region, as testified
by the occurence of Oceanic deposits in other is-
lands, and by the raised coral reefs which occur from
one end of the Antilles to the other. The upheaval
of the area from the ocean depths to within a certain
distance of the sea level may have been compara-
tively rapid ; and though the coral limestone is un-
conformable to the Oceanic series, yet the interval
of time between the uplift of the latter and the
commencement of coral-growth may not have been
a very long one. The subsequent elevation of the
island during the formation of the coral platforms
seems to have been slow and regular, and to have
acted evenly over the whole area

180 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

The first part of the island to emerge above the
sea was, of course, that which is now of the greatest
height above it. The original Barbados was a small
island which included the heights now known as
Mount Hillaby and Chimborazo. The greater part
of this original island has been destroyed and carried
away by subsequent erosion and denudation ; a part
of the coral reefs which encircled its leeward side
still remains in the low escrapment of coral rock
which extends from Greggs Farm and Hillaby to
Castle Grant.

At this time six-sevenths of what constitutes the
present area of Barbados, was under water ; and this
brings us to the fourth period in the geological his-
tory of the island, when the coral formation occured,
which may be regarded as a sheet or mantle spread
over the surface of the older rocks ; the oceanic
deposits and the Scotland rock, that remained under
water, forming a broad and low dome-shaped mass or
basis, on which the coral formation has been gradually
built up.

This corai cap, however, cannot be regarded as an
even and continuous sheet, for both its lower and
upper surfaces are irregular ; it really consists of a
number of separate stages or platforms, built up one
around the other as the island slowly arose from the
sea level.

The first noticeable feature is that these terraces
are not all subsidiary to one centre, but to two. The
principal terraces conform to the central ridge of
highland, and curve round the highest part: of the
Scotland distric between Mount Hillaby and Castle
Grant.

The southern portion of the island has a similar,
though smaller, independent system of terraces which
form what is now known as Christchurch ridge. No
part of this is more than 400 feet above the sea,
whence it is clear that when the sea level coincided

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 181

with the contour of 200 feet, Barbados consisted of
two islands instead of one ; these islands being
separated by a shallow sea or strait occupying the
broad valley or depression which traverses the island
east of Bridgetown. As time went on, reefs gradually
formed in this strait, and by subsequent elevations
were brought to the surface, so that the two islands
were eventually united into one.

The thickness of the coral limestone varies greatly
in different places. The tendency of coral growth
being to fill up the hollows of the underlying surface,
and to build up a platform that is limited by the sea
level, hence it must be evident that some parts of
the reef must be deeper and thicker than others.
So far as it has been ascertained by boring,
there are few places where the thickness of the coral
rocks exceeds 200 feet, and in some places it is so
thin that it only forms a superficial crust, which in
a few localities, has been worn off and washed away
over a certain area, so as to expose the underlying
strata, as near Loamfield, and other places.

After the union of the two islands was accom-
plished, Barbados quickly assumed the shape it now
possesses. It is probable that by this time the
elevatory movement was dying out and acted but
very slowly, so that the upward growth of coral was
the chief agent in the formation of the undulating
plains in the rear of Bridgetown and in the eastern
part of St. Philip's. Still they could not have arisen
to their present height above the sea without an
uplifting movement, and it cannot have been very
long ago, geologically speaking, since this movement
finally ceased.

The last or fifth period in the geological history of
the island was the formation of the soil and surface
deposits, thereby rendering it fit for the habitation
of man and of the animal creation. In an island so
devoted to agriculture, the manner in which the

182 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

soils have originated and the reason why they differ
so from one another, must be an interesting subject
to its inhabitants.

The basis of every soil is in the sub-soil or rock for-
mation which underlies it ; that is to say, the slow
disintegration, or breaking up of the underlying rock
material by the various surface agencies to which it
is exposed, gives rise to the loose earth which we
call soil. It does not follow, however, that the same
subsoil is everywhere covered by exactly the same
kind of soil, because there are several circumstances
which cause mixtures and varieties of soil. Thus, on
every slope there is a tendency for the soil to move
down the slope, and whenever there is a depression
or valley, there soil will accumulate and vegetation
thrive. The soils of Barbados are divided into two
classes, those of the Scotland District and those of
the coral-rock area. In the latter the most remark-
able is the red loam soil, which is found of the greatest
depth on the highest plateau, above 900 feet ; below
800 feet it is much thinner, and under 500 feet it is
covered by dark carbonaceous earth — the so-called
black soil.

The red soil occurs everywhere over the surface
of limestone that is exposed to the slow, solvent
action of rainwater, and is the sediment or ash as it
were, left behind, extracted by the shell-forming
zoophytes from the waters of the ocean. It is the
same as the valuable red soil of the Bahamas, on
which pine-apples are grown, and also that of the
Bermudas on which the onion is raised. It represents
the residue of a great thickness of the limestone rock ;
as from 50 to 60 cubic feet of coral rock must have
been destroyed in order to produce one cubic foot of
red soil. The black earth is found only on the lowest
coral-rock levels, overlying the thin coating of red
soil, and is composed of decayed vegetable matter.
When Barbados was first colonized, it was covered

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 183

by a dense mass of tangled vegetation with frequent
mangrove swamps, and the natural decay of this
vegetation formed the black earth.

In the Scotland district there is a much greater
variety in the soil, but it is less productive ; it may be
divided into heavy, argillaceous and light, sandy soils,
the latter being deficient in lime. Consequenly the
most fertile fields are those where the soil is derived
in part from the sand and clays, and in part from the
oceanic series ; and all the valleys and lowest levels in
this district are covered with this alluvial deposit.

Wind-blown sands also occur in some places along
the western coast, consisting of minute fragments of
corals and shells. If plentifully supplied with water,
these tracts can be cultivated with success ; but the
siliceous, wind-blown sands of St. Andrews, are quite
unfertile.

184 STARK&&1iLFY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XVIII.

WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO BARBADOS, BARBADIAN
HOSPITALITY.

The most distinguished American that ever visited
Barbados was George Washington, then a Major in
the British Army. He visited the island in the fall
and winter of 1751-2, nearly twenty-five years before
the outbreak of the American Revolution. He was
then about twenty years of age, had been a licensed
surveyor in Virginia for over three years, and, shortly
before sailing, had been commissioned one of the
Adjutants-General of Virginia with the rank of
Major, and the pay of ;£ 150 a year.

George Washington kept a daily journal during
his voyage and visit to Barbados. While studying
surveying he had theoretically studied navigation ; and
this voyage offered an exceptionally good opportunity
for him to acquire a practical knowledge of the art :
of which, from his early desire to adopt a seafaring
life, we may well suppose he eagerly availed.

He ruled the pages of his dairy, an improvised
book, to correspond to a ship's log-book, and took
with regularity the daily instrumental observations
made by navigators at sea. If we had no other
means of knowing Washington, this journal of itself,
would show that he possessed at that early age,
strong and acute natural powers of observation, and
that his mind was, for his years, unusually matured

TO BARBADOS AND THE .G A ]&'$&£ E ISLANDS. 185
* *. '\+ * ^* ti /

and well stored* with praiQtic%L-^n^Uy ledge and
historical facts. During h^.^jj^in. -Barbados, he
acquired and recorded in ywBfc. journal a wonderful
amount of information about' tne* island, its climate,
the character of its soil, its productions, population,
commerce, resources, government, defences, etc.
This old brown and faded manuscript is in a lament-
able state of decay ; but fortunately it has just been
published, so that now it is within the reach of all.*

Washington went to Barbados as a companion to
his invalid brother, Major Lawrence Washington, (the
proprietor of Mount Vernon on the Potomac in
Virginia,) who was suffering from consumption.

The affectionate, mutual attachment of these
two brothers, though marked from early childhood,
was particularly so after the death of their father.
Lawrence was fourteen years older than George, had
received a good education in England, and had held
a captain's commission in the British Army ; had
travelled and seen much of the world ; possessed
business habits and decision of character, and enjoyed
the confidence and regard of the leading men in
Virginia, as well as of a large circle of influential
persons in Great Britain. He had served as captain
in the expedition against Carthegena, 1740-2, under
the command of Admiral Vernon, in whose honor, he
named his estate on the Potomac. Immediately after
his return from Barbados and Bermuda, he died at
Mount Vernon, July 26th 1752 ; and his remains rest
in the vault there, beside those of his "beloved
brother George," to whom he devised his Mount
Vernon estate.

Washington sailed from the Potomac river on the
28th of September 1 75 I, for Barbados, the island being
even at that early date famous as a health resort.
This reputation and the frequent and intimate inter-

*''The Daily Journal of Major George Washington," Joel Munsell, Publisher,
Albany, N. Y., 1892.

186 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

course between the residents of that island and the
planters of Virginia probably determined Major
Lawrence Washington to prefer Barbados to any
other West Indian island for his visit. They arrived
at Bridgetown November 3rd, 1751. The following
extracts from his journal will prove interesting,
especially to his countrymen.

" We were greatly alarm'd with the cry of Land at 4
A. M. : we quitted our beds with surprise and found ye land
plainly appearing at about 3 Leauges distance when by our
reckonings we shou'd have been near 150 Leauges to the
Windward we to Leeward ab* ye distance above mention'd
and had we been but 3 or 4 Leauges more we shou'd have
been out of sight of the Island run down the Latitude and
probably not have discover'd our Error in time to have
gain'd the land for 3 Weeks or More.

November 4th 1751. This morning received a card
from Major Clark welcoming us to Barbadoes, with an
invitation to breakfast and dine with him. We went —
myself with some reluctance, as the smalpox was in his
family.* We were received in the most kind and friendly
manner by him. Mrs. Clark was much indisposed, inso-
much that we had not the pleasure of her company, but
in her place officiated Miss Roberts, her niece, and an
agreeable young lady. After drinking tea we were invited
to Mr. Carter's, and desired to make his house ours till we
could provide lodgings agreeable to our wishes, which
offer we accepted.

5th, — Early this morning came Dr. Hilary, an eminent
physician recommended by Major Clarke, to pass his
opinion on my brother's disorder, which he did in a favor-
able light, giving great assurance that it was not so fixed
but that a cure might be effectually made. In the cool of
the evening we rode out accompanied by Mr. Carter to
seek lodgings in the country, as the Doctor advised, and
were perfectly enraptured with the beautiful prospects

*This apprehension was well founded for thirteen days afterwards he was stricken
with it. Fortunately he passed safely through the disease with but few marks upon
his face.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 187

which on every side presented to our view. The fields of
Cain, Corn, Fruit Trees &c. in a delightful Green. We
returned without accomplishing our intentions.

Tuesday 6th. At Mr. Carter's employing ourselves in
Writs Letters, to be carried by the Chooner Fredicksburg
Capt Robinson to Virginia. Received a Card from
Majr Clark wherein our company was desir'd to Dinner to
morrow & myself an invitation from Mrs. Clarke and
Miss Robts to come and see the serpts fir'd bring guns* &
I had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Clarke.

Wednesday yth. Dined at Maj'r Clarkes ; and by him
was introduced to the Surveyor Gen1 & Judges, Finley &
Racket ; who likewise dined there : in the Evening they
complaisantly accompanied us in another excursion in the
Country to choose such lodgins as most suited ; we pitched
on the house of Captn Crofton, commander of James Fort ;
he was desir'd to come to Town next day to propose his
terms. We return'd by way of Needham's fort and was
introduced to ye Captn thereof, a Genteel, pretty gentleman.
Sup'd and spent the Evening at Maj'r Clarke with the
Gentlemen before mentioned.

Thursday 8th. Came Captn Crofton with his proposals
which tho extravagently dear my Brother was oblig'd to
give. .£15 pr Month is his charge exclusive of Liquors
& washing which we find, in the Evening we remov'd
some of our things up and ourselves ; it's very pleasantly
situated, pretty near the Sea and ab* a mile from Town,
the prospect is extensive by Land and pleasent by Sea as
we command the prospect of Carlyle Bay & all the shipping
in such manner that none can go in or out with out being
open to our view.

Fryday gth. We received a Card from Maf Clarke
inviting us to dine with him at Judge Maynards on the
Morrow, he had a right to ask, being a member of the
Club call'd the Beefstake & tripe, instituted by himself and
others.

Saturday loth. We were Genteely receiv'd by Judge

*This refers to the " gunpowder plot " which was commemorated in Barbados by
a season of festivities, lasting from the ist to the gth of November.

188 STARK'S HISTORY AND CHIDE

Satus Maynard & Lady and agreeably entertain'd by the
Company, they have a meeting every Saturday, this being
Col° Maynards. After Dinner was the greatest Collection
of Fruits I have ever seen set on the Table. We received
invitations from every Gentleman there. Mr. Warren
desired Majr Clarke to shew us the way to his house ; Mr.
Hack1 insisted on our coming Saturday next to his, being
his Day to treat with Beef Stake & tripe, but above all the
invitation of Mr. Maynard was the most kind and friendly,
he desir'd and even insisted as well as his Lady with him
and promis'd nothing should be wanting to render our stay
agreeable my Br promis'd he wou'd as soon as he was a
Little disengag'd from the Drs- We returned and was
invited to Dine at Majr Clarke's the next Day by himself.

Sunday nth. Dressed in order for Church, but got to
town two Late, dined at Majr Clarkes with ye S : G : went
to Evening Service and returned to our Lodgings.

Munday izth. Receiv'd an afternoon Visit from Capt
Petrie and invitation to dine with him the next Day.

Tuesday i3th. Dined at the Fort with some Ladys, its
pretty strongly fortifyed and mounts about 36 Gunes within
the fortifin but 2 facine Batterys, mc 5 1 .

Wednesday i4th. Was at our Lodgings.

Thursday i5th. Was treated with a play ticket by Mr.
Carter to see the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted : the
character of Barnwell, and several others was said to be
well perform'd, there was Musick a Dapted and regularly
conducted.

Fryday i6th. Mr. Graeme, late one of the Masters of
the College of Virginia, paid us a Morning's Visit and in-
vited us to dine with Judge Graeme his B on Sunday, din'd
this Day at Majr Clarke's.

Saturday iyth — Was strongly attacked with the small
Pox sent for Dr Lanahan whose attendance was very con-
stant till my recovery, and going out which was not 'till
thursday the i2th of December.

December i2th. Went to Town visited Maf Clarke's
Family (who kindly visited me in my illness and contributed
all they cou'd in send'g me the necessary's required in ye

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 189

disorder) and dined with Majr Gaskens a half Brr to Mrs.
Clarke.

Fryday Spent at our Lodgings.

Saturday i4th. My Br dined at Needham's, myself at
Maj. Clarkes.

Sunday 15. Dined with Judge Graeme after returning
from Christ Church.

Monday i6th. Dined at Needham Fort with Captn
Petrie.

Tuesday 16th. Dined at Majr Clarke with commodore
Hobourn, Govern Pursel Gr of Totola, General Barrack &
many others.

Wednesday lyth. Dined with Messrs. Stephenson's
Merchu-

Thursday 18. Provided my Sea Stores, dined with
M Carter.

Fryday 19. Got my Clothes, Stores &c. oi\ board the
Industry Capn John Saunders for Virginia.

Saturday 2ist. At my Lodgings.

Sunday 22d. Took my leave of my Br aui Maj Clarke
&c. Imbarked on the Industry Captn John Saunders for
Virginia wai'd anchor and got out of Carlile Bay abl 12."

A residence of six weeks in Barbados brought no
relief to the sufferings of Major Lawrence Washing-
ton. After mature deliberation, it was agreed
between the brothers that George should return
home, and Lawrence should try Bermuda. If there
were any improvement, George was to come there
with Lawrence's wife. He wrote to a friend in
Virginia on the 6th of April, from Bermuda, where
he had gone in March, that " I have now got to my
last refuge, where I must receive my final sentence.
If I grow worse, I shall hurry home to my grave ; if
better, I shall be induced to stay longer here to
complete a cure." All his hopes were false. In
despair he returned home in time to receive the kind
ministrations of his wife and friends, and died at
Mount Vernon 26 July, 1752.

190 S TA RK 'S HIS TOR Y AND G UIDE

Washington, in his description of the inhabitants
of Barbados, speaks of their hospitality, which is as
true of them to-day as it was when his journal
was written : he says, " Hospitality and Genteel
behaviour is shewn to every gentleman stranger by
the Inhabitants." Indeed every entry in his journal
proves this, for from the day Washington landed in
Barbados till he sailed, he was the receipient daily
of invitations and courtesies extended to him and
his brother by the islanders.

Strangers bringing letters of introduction will
meet with ample attention, and visitors generally
will be treated with every courtesy. Hospitality is
carried to an extreme unknown in England and the
United States, and there are few persons who have
ever visited Barbados, who have not separated from
many of the inhabitants with regret.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 191

CHAPTER XIX.

THE FUTURE OF BARBADOS AND THE CARJBBEE
ISLANDS.

The West Indies, like other parts of the world, are
going through a silent revolution. Elsewhere the
revolution, as we hope, is to result in the passing away
of what is old and worn out, that a healthier order
may rise in its place. In the West Indies and the
southern part of the United States, the most sanguine
of mortals will find it difficult to entertain any hope
at all

It matters not what the nationality or form of
government may be, provided that negro slavery once
existed there, then the country is surely cursed if a
representative form of government is attempted, with
universal suffrage.

It is strange to think how chequered a history these
islands have had, how far they are even yet from any
condition which promises permanence. Not one of
them has arrived at any stable independence ; Span-
iards, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen and Danes
scrambled for them, fought for them, occupied them
more or less with their own people ; yet it was not to
found new nations, but to get gold, or something which
could be changed for gold. Instead of occupying them
with free inhabitants the European nations filled
them with savages from Africa, to labor under the
tropical sun, that Europeans could not endure. There

192 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

have been splendor and luxurious living there, and
also crimes, revolts and massacres.

There are no people there in the true sense of the
word, unless to some extent in Cuba and Barbados,
and therefore when the wind has changed and the
wealth for which the islands were alone valued is no
longer to be made there, and slavery is no longer
possible and would not pay if it were, there is
nothing to fall back upon. Planters and merchants
see their palaces fall to decay ; their wines and
their furniture, their books and their pictures are
sold and dispersed ; their existence is a struggle to
keep afloat, and one by one they go under the waves
of adversity.

In the early days, before the introduction of negro
slaves, white labor was tried in several of the islands,
notably in Barbados and St. Kitts, where many
thousands of white laborers were sold into servitude
for a number of years, as described in previous
chapters on those islands. The experiment did not
succeed, as men of the Anglo-Saxon race cannot labor
in the fields under a tropical sun, and live. If en-
gaged in sedentary employments, where they are
protected from the sun, professional men, merchants,
clerks and mechanics can live here as well as, and even
longer than, they could in England, the home of their
race, provided they lead an abstemious life. The
writer has seen as fine specimens of the Anglo-.Saxon
race in these islands — descendants of the Englishmen
who came here over two hundred years ago — as in
England, the United States, or any other part of the
world. The Latin races do better than the Anglo-
Saxon as field laborers in tropical countries, as for
instance the Spaniards in Cuba, Porto Rico and South
America. The French in Martinique and Guada-
loupe, and the Portugese laborers from the Azores
who have been employed in considerable numbers
in several of the islands and in Demerara, have

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 193

been fairly successful in standing the climate;
but, nevertheless, white labor has never succeeded,
the Portugese rarely renewing their labor contracts,
prefering on their expiration, to set up as small
storekeepers or planters, or to return to their native
country. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for
the future of the West Indies that they should have
a class of labor that will be able to stand the climate,
be industrious, and easily controlled by its em-
ployers. If properly managed, the negro will fill
these conditions better than any other race, but the
white man must rule.

The greatest danger today that menaces the West
Indies and Barbados in particular, is negro rule, which
would certainly come under universal suffrage.
Through Sir Conrad Reeves' exertions the suffrage
has been extended within the last few years to
double its former extent. A person paying a par-
ochial tax of not less than £i, or five dollars, is en-
titled to vote. Barbados has reached the danger line;
the next step is universal suffrage. Sir Conrad
Reeves, the colored Chief Justice, informed the writer
he believed, " that every man should be entitled to
vote, irrespective of property or educational qualifica-
tions ; " the only qualification that he would require
would be that the nominees should be men of wealth
and education.

What would then be the result ? In Barbados,
with a black and colored population of 185,000, and the
whites numbering only 1 5,000, and steadily decreasing
at that, with the blacks increasing at an alarming
extent, there would be no good or sufficient reason
why the black man should not say to the remnant of
the whites, " Stand aside and see how we can make
laws for your guidance and regulation, as you have,,
all these years, made laws for us while the power was
in your hands ; we are now in the majority, and the
majority rules. We may not know how to do better,

194 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

or even as well ; nevertheless, we intend to make
the experiment." What will happen in those days ?
Has fifty years of freedom under the liberal laws of
Great Britain fitted the negro for this struggle? Has
he been put into such thorough training as will enable
him to secure a place, even, in the race for civilization ?
Is he strong enough to contend in the arena of
politics, to hold up his end of the world ? I fear
not, for the following reasons. First, he was taken
away from Ashantec and Dahomey, to be a slave, it
is true, but a slave to a less cruel master than he
would have found at home. He had a hard time of
it occasionally, and the plantation whip, and the
auction block are not all dreams ; yet his owner cared
for him at least as much as he did for his cows and
horses. Kind usage to animals is more economical
than barbarity, and it cannot be denied that the
negroes that were taken out of Africa, as compared
with those who were left at home, were as the " elect
to salvation," who, after a brief purgatory, have secured
an eternity of blessedness. For fifty years they have
had perfect liberty, and have been kept safe from
dangers, to which, left to themselves, they would have
been exposed : for under English rule, the strong is
prevented from oppressing the weak. But the peace
and order by which they benefit, is not of their own
creation. In spite of schools and missionaries, the
dark connection still maintains itself with Satan's
invisible world, and modern education contends in
vain with Obeah worship. The negro obeys the laws,
not out of respect for the laws themselves, but be-
cause he stands in awe of the power that enforces
the law; if he had the power they would be re-
pealed. The negro goes to school it is true, but if
the school-houses were removed he would not tax
himself to support a system of public education.
There are many able colored men in the West Indies
to be met everywhere, preachers, lawyers, merchants

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 195

and doctors, but the great mass of the population are
indolent, physically and mentally — ignorant beyond
belief, unambitious, superstitious, in fact, brutish.

The blacks depend, for the progress which they
may be capable of making, on the presence of a white
community among them ; left to themselves, they
would soon forget what little they have been taught,
cease to strive after higher things, and, in the islands
where life -may be supported by plucking and eating
the wild fruits and other native crops, the people
would, in the course of time relapse into a state of
barbarism. The African hut of wattles and thatch,
would take the place of the comfortable, substantially-
built slave-quarters, and the negroes would be found
cooking their bananas and yams on the ruins of
warehouses ; a state of things which the writer actually
saw in several of the Caribbee islands.

Secondly. The American negro belongs to the
lowest race on the earth : travellers who have been
in Africa say that the Zulus and Caffres are far
superior to the American negro ; that the latter is
coarsely formed in limb and feature ; that they would
have been slaves in their own country if they had not
been brought to ours : and at the most they have lost
nothing by the change. The whites and blacks are
not equal and will not blend ; no white girl will marry
a negro ; and hardly any dowry can be large enough
to tempt a West Indian white to make a wife of an
educated black woman. The white will not even
hold social intercourse with the negro, but keeps aloof
from him as a superior from an inferior.

Under universal suffrage, the negro voters might
elect, to begin with, their colored attorneys or such
whites, the most disreputable of their color, as would
court their suffrages. But the negro does not like
the mulatto, and despises the white man who consents
to be his servant. Already the whites are dwindling
away in all the islands ; establish negro rule and they

196 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

will withdraw of themselves altogether before they
are compelled to go. Anglo-Saxon men will not
live under the rule of an inferior race ; they have the
world open to them and will prefer lands where they
can live under less degrading circumstances.

The salvation of Barbados in the past has been the
fact that the negro had to work or starve : there was
no land to squat on, as every foot was devoted to
the cultivation of sugar cane. Under negro rule
it would soon be otherwise : under a " popular form
of government," laws would be made on the principal
of " the greatest good for the greatest number ; " the
" single tax theory " would receive universal support ;
and every negro, as soon as he understood the scheme,
would become a disciple of Henry George. The
whole tax-levy would fall upon real estate ; and the
irresponsible voter having nothing to lose but
everything to gain, would not be slow in running the
island into debt. The result would be that the owners
of real estate would be taxed out of existence, the
estates would be sold for unpaid taxes and bought in
by the municipality. Then the inhabitants could
obtain all the land they wanted to squat on, and
raise all they desired with very little work. No more
sugar would be exported from Barbados, and the negro
would be truly free. He could live and multiply on
this fertile island without work, and live as his
ancestors did in Africa ; he would have everything
his own way, and in a short time have the island to
himself. No Europeans would remain to be ruled
under a black representative system, nor would they
take part in it, when they would be so overwhelmingly
outvoted and outnumbered : they would sooner for-
feit all they had in the world and go away.

This bloodless revolution would be accomplished
simply through the supineness of the whites in
allowing the negroes universal suffrage. With a
property and educational qualification, the whites

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 197

would continue to be the governing race ; for as a
rule, the colored people and negroes who possessed
property would vote with the whites in the interest
of law and order.

Thirdly, the world has seen two great examples
of negro rule, under entirely different circumstances ;
one where the negro, for the first time in the history
of the earth, fought and gained his independence
and exterminated the white man, his former master.
The other, where white men of the Anglo-Saxon race
fought for four years some of the most desperate
battles in history for the negro's freedom, and then
the victor gave him political rights by which he could
rule his former master. The two following chapters
of examples of negro rule in Hayti and the United
States, will show the whites in Barbados what they
will have to expect under universal suffrage better
than anything else that can be said on the subject.

198 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XX.

NEGRO RULE IN HAYTL

There is not a finer island on the globe than Hayti ;
no country possesses greater capabilities or a better
geographical position. In variety of soil, of climate
and of productions, in magnificent scenery of every
description, and in hill-sides where the pleasantest of
health resorts might be established, it is unrivalled.
And yet it is a country to be most avoided, a place where
a white man has no right that a negro is bound to re-
spect, where human sacrifices are common, and where
human flesh is openly sold in the market. " In Febru-
ary, 1 88 1, at St. Marc a cask of so-called pork was
sold to a foreign ship. In it were discovered fingers,
and finger nails, and all the flesh proved to be that
of a human being. An English medical man pur-
chased and indentified the neck and shoulders of a
human being in the market of Port-au-Prince. An
English colored clergyman at Cape Haytien said that
his wife was nearly purchasing in the market human
flesh instead of pork."* Cannabalism exists all over
the island, and is seldom punished by the authorities.

Voodooism, or serpent worship, imported from the
tribes of the west coast of Africa by the slaves
coming from that part of the country, preponderates
over the Christian religion in all parts of the island.
In the secret ceremonies of the Voodoo, human

*Vanity Fair Aug. 13, 1881, quoted by Sir S. St. John.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 199

sacrifices are made, and the blood of the victim mixed
with white rum is drank, and the body eaten. This
society has meddled in the politics of every govern-
ment which has existed in Hayti, and is looked on
as one of the firmest props of the independence of
the country.

It is to be remembered that this republic is not a
remote region in Central Africa, but an island sur-
rounded by civilized communities, that it possesses
a government modelled on that of France, with Presi-
dent, Senate and House of Representatives, with
secretaries of state, prefects, judges and all the
paraphernalia of courts of justice, and of police, with
a press more or less free, an archbishop, bishops and
clergy, nearly all Frenchmen.

When Columbus discovered San Domingo it was
inhabited by a generous and affectionate people,
estimated by their conquerors to number from one
to two millions ; their lands were first taken from
them, and next their persons were seized. The
Spaniards, with an appalling ferocity, proceeded to
act towards these unfortunate people as though they
they did not belong to the human race. Those who
died not under the lash in a tropical sun, died in the
darkness of the mine. To their number was added
the total population of the Bahama Islands numbering
40,000, hunted down with bloodhounds and trans-
ported to this island. In a few years the whole
population was exterminated, and the Spanish
historians themselves are the chroniclers of this
record of infamy. Now, not a descendant of an
Indian remains.

The island, deprived of population, with its mineral
wealth no longer available, and agriculture neglected,
rapidly degenerated. Then the buccaneers appeared,
and inflicted on the Spaniards some of the misery
they had worked on the Indians. Notwithstanding
every effort to prevent them, the French adventurers

200 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

gradually spread through the western part of San
Domingo and began to form towns and settlements
in what is now known as Hayti ; but this rule was not
recognized by the Spaniards until the year 1697.
From this date to the breaking out of the French
Revolution, the colony increased in prosperity, until
it became, for its extent, probably the richest in the
world. Negroes were imported by the thousands
from the coast of Africa to take the place of the
Indians exterminated by the Spaniards.

French historians are never weary of describing
the prosperity of the colony at this period, nor of
enumerating the amount of its products, the great
trade, the warehouses full of sugar, cotton, coffee,
indigo and cocoa, its plains covered with splendid
estates, its hillsides dotted with noble houses, a white
population rich, refined, enjoying life as only a
luxurious colonial society can enjoy it : but all this
rapidly changed, owing indirectly to the American
Revolution.

When England was forced to acknowledge the
independence of her revolted colonies, -despotic
France and Spain rejoiced over the downfall of the
only country where liberty was known. They little
thought, as the bell on Independence Hall in Phil-
adelphia sent forth the news to the world in its
clarion notes, that it was their death-knell. The
results were, for France, the Revolution with all its
crimes and horrors, and the loss of Hayti, the
finest colony that any country ever possessed.
To Spain it brought the loss of world-wide posses-
sions, and a fall in power and prestige, from which
to this day she shows no signs of recovering.
To England, it resulted in a still greater extension
of her colonial system, and more liberal laws, which
bound the colonies more firmly to her.

For revenge, on account of her loss of Canada,
France sent a fleet under Count de Grasse, and an

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 201

army under the command of Count de Rochambeau
to aid the colonist, their former enemies, in their
struggle against the mother country ; they arrived
at Yorktown at an opportune moment, and, with
Washington's army, caused Lord Cornwallis to sur-
render, thereby virtually ending the war.

Count de Grasse then sailed for the West Indies,
and was met by the English fleet, under Admiral
Rodney, between Dominica and Gauadeloupe ; there,
on the morning of April I2th, 1782, was fought one
of the bloodest and most obstinately contested battles
ever fought. The French squadrons were almost
annihilated, the flag ship, Ville de Paris, was captured,
and the French Admiral, Count de Grasse, was taken
prisoner. The English West Indies were saved, the
naval power of France ruined ; and as it gave a finish-
ing blow to the war, Great Britian was able to
insist on less humiliating terms of peace with the
great powers of the world with whom she was at
war. Although she had lost thirteen colonies, she
was, by reason of this victory, able to dictate her own
terms, to her other foes.

When the French army and fleet left France for
America, the commanders permitted the free blacks
and mulattoes at Hayti to enlist, and they did good
service ; but when they returned to their country,
the same thing occurred, which happened in France on
the return of the white troops. They spread widely
a spirit of disaffection, which no ordinance could
destroy. The result in France was the Revolution,
which extended to Hayti. The ferocity of the negra
nature had now full swing, and the whites, men,
women and children were massacred ; they were
placed between planks and sawn in two, or were
skinned alive and slowly roasted, the girls and women
violated, and then murdered.

One of the vilest of their leaders was Jeannot ; he
loved to torture his white prisoners, and drank their

202 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

blood mixed with rum. A negro general went to
Dessalines, after the appearance of his order to mur-
der all the whites on the island, and said : "Emperor,
I have obeyed your decree ; I have put my white
wife to death." " Excellent Haytian," answered he,
" but infernal scoundrel. If you ever again pre-
sent yourself before me, I will have you shot." This
was the only saying recorded of the black Emperor
that showed any humane feeling.

The climate and yellow fever proved to be the
negroes' best allies during 1802 and 1803, as a fearful
epidemic of yellow fever fell upon the French army,
and almost annihilated it ; forty thousand are said to
have died during that time, including the commander,
Leclerc, and twenty other French generals. War
had now been declared between France and England,
and soon an English fleet was off the coast. The
French were driven from every point by the negroes
and forced to concentrate at Cape Haytian. Roch-
ambeau succeeded Leclerc, and did all that man
could do to save his army ; but beseieged by the
blacks to the number of 30,000, and blockaded by
the English fleet, pinched by hunger, and seeing no
hope of re-enforcements, to save his army from
being massacred by the negroes, he surrendered to
the English, and embarked for Europe. Thus ended
one of the most disastrous expeditions ever under-
taken by France. Hayti was free, and the French
interference at Yorktown avenged.

Having driven out the French, the Haytians
determined to throw off all allegiance to France and
to establish an independent government. General
Dessalines was crowned Emperor. His first act, the
one that endears his memory to the Haytians, was
the issuing of a decree that all Frenchmen, including
their wives and children, should be massacred.
Fearing that some of his generals, from interest or
humanity, might not fully carry out his decree, he

TO BARBADOS ANJ*> THE CARTBBEE ISLANDS. 203

made a tournie through the different departments,
and pitilessly massacred every white man, woman or
child who fell in his way. One can imagine the
saturnalia of these liberated slaves, enjoying the
luxury of shedding the blood of those in whose
presence they had formerly trembled ; and this
without danger ; for what resistence could these
helpless men, women or children offer to their savage
executioners ? The only good quality Dessalines
possessed was a brute courage ; in all else he was an
African savage, distinguished even among his coun-
trymen for his superior ferocity and perfidy. He is
said to have spared no man in his anger, nor woman
in his lust ; he was shot from an ambuscade at Port
Rouge in 1805, by his countrymen.

The present population of Hayti is supposed to be
about nine-tenths black, and one-tenth colored, and
the colored is decidedly more and more approaching
the black type. It is natural that continually
breeding in-and-in, should gradually assimilate the
race to the more numerous portion. It appears as if
the lighter shades of mulatto would die out, as many
of this class marry Europeans and leave the country
with their children ; while the others marry Haytians
more or less dark, and the tendency then is to breed
back to their .black ancestors. There are too few
whites settled in the country to arrest this backward
movement, for the whole white population was ex-
terminated during the struggle between the French
and blacks.

" The example of Hayti proves that the negro can
never originate a civilization, and that with the best
of education he remains an inferior type of man.
He has as yet shown himself totally unfit for self-
government, and incapable, as a people, to make any
progress whatever. As long as he is influenced by
contact with the white man, he gets along fairly well,
but place him free from all such influences, as in

204 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

Hayti, and he shows no signs of improvement, on
the contrary, he is gradually retrograding to the
African tribal customs, and, without exterior pressure,
will fall into the state of the inhabitants on the
Congo." This is the opinion of a gentleman who
lived for twelve years in familiar and kindly inter-
course with Haytians, of all ranks and shades of
color.*

During the French colonial period, the principal
product was sugar, and in the year 1789 the exports
were 54,000,003 Ibs. of white sugar and 107,000,000
Ibs. of brown. In 1821 the export of sugar had fallen
from 161,000,000 Ibs. to 60,000 Ibs., and then it dis-
appears from the custom-house lists. The prejudice
against sugar-making is still strong. A negro, when
asked why he did not raise sugar, replied sulkily,
" I am not a slave," and walked away.

Of cotton, 8,400,000 Ibs. were exported in 1789 ;
this amount decreased under independent rule, so
that in 1860 it amounted to only 688,735 Ibs. In the
last commercial report, the amount of cotton exported,
is not given. Coffee is the most important article in
Haytian agriculture, as it grows wild in every moun-
tainous part of the country, from the seed planted
by the French. It is picked by the women and
children, but the work is mostly done by nature.
Nowhere is better coffee raised than in Hayti, if
only care is taken in gathering it ; but its price in
the market is low, on account of the careless manner
of collecting and preparing it. Sometimes the crop is
gathered hastily, and ripe and unripe seeds are mixed ;
then it is dried upon the bare ground, regardless of
the state of the weather, and when swept up into
heaps, it is too often mixed with small stones, leaves
and dirt. In 1 789, the crop greatly exceeded anything
seen since ; it then amounted to 88,630,502, in 1880 it

*Sir Spenser St. John. Formerly the English Resident and Consul-General in
Hayti. Author of •' Hayti, or the Black Republic."

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 205

had fallen off to 55,562,897^8. The striking decrease
in agriculture since the negroes became independent,
together with the fact that the population is supposed
to have doubled, carries out the theory of the de-
generacy and idleness of the negro when left to
himself : and foreshadows the result in the Caribbee
islands if they were given over to negro rule.

206 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

CHAPTER XXI.

NEGRO RULE IN THE UNITED STATES.

African slavery was introduced into the English
colonies in North America about the same time as
it was into the West Indies. It was soon found,
however, that, owing to the climate negroes could
not thrive in the latitude of ' the New England
colonies ; consequently, early in this century, the
Legislatures of Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut passed laws
providing a gradual scheme of emancipation, which
took a lifetime to work out. By the enactment of
these laws, however, owners of slaves were warned
to send them out of the State before the act should
go into effect, and the inevitable result of such acts
was to send the slaves South for sale. Similar acts
were also passed in New York, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. Slaves were more numerous in Rhode Island
than in the other New England States, because the
merchants and sailors of that little State were the
greatest slave-traders of America. In 1790 she had
2,750 slaves, and as late as 1840 there were five in that
State.

New York had in 1790, 21,324 slaves, and by 1840
she had got rid of all but four. When South Carolina
prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa in
1789, New York imported them and shipped the
savages to that State as American slaves. As late
as 1858, the London Times charged New York with
having become the greatest slave-trading mart in the

TO BARBADOS AND THE C A RIB BEE ISLANDS. 207

world, a charge which Wilson in the " Rise and Fall
of the Slave Power," fully corroborates.

In Pennsylvania there were 3,737 slaves in 1790,
and the census of 1840 showed 65 negroes still in
slavery. New Jersey, though adopting the same
scheme, was slower in getting rid of her slaves, 674
still remaining in 1840. By the census of 1790 there
were 40,370 slaves in the states north of Virginia.

After the close of the Revolutionary war, in which
England acknowledged the independence of her
thirteen revolted colonies, it was found that 'the
Articles of Confederation which bound the colonies
together during their struggle with the mother coun-
try, were not adequate to the wants of the govern-
ment. Consequently a convention of delegates from
all the states met in 1787 and entered into articles
of co-partnership with each other. This document,
which was drafted by Alexander Hamilton of the
island of Nevis, and was known as the Constitution,
" was adopted and ratified by the different states, and
became the bond of union between the " United
States."

It had been conceded at all times that the Con-
gress of the United States had no power to legislate
concerning slaves in the several States, and that this
was a subject for State legislation only. It was one
of the powers not granted in the Constitution, but
by Article X. " it was reserved to the States re-
spectively."

The Northern states having got rid of slavery, it
was but a short time before a strong anti-slavery
feeling existed there, the same as in England, but
the conditions were different. Slavery could not be
abolished in the Southern States by the United
States government, as England did in the case of
the West Indies, for the Constitution did not allow
any interference with it. The constant anti-slavery
agitation in the North, with the fear of a negro

208 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

insurrection aided by the abolitionists, (such as finally
culminated in the John Brown raid at Harper's
Ferry,) finally led to the seceding of the Southern
States from the Union, and brought on one of the great-
est conflicts in the history of the world. Over two
million, seven hundred thousand, men were enlisted
by the Federal government, and six hundred thousand
by the Confederates. The total losses on both sides
during the four years of the war, amounted to about
six hundred thousand killed, with nearly a million
men, wounded and disabled, and a debt state and
national, of about four thousand million dollars,
an amount precisely equal to the estimated value
of all the slaves in the United States at the
commencement of the war. This was the price paid
by the United States for the freeing of the slaves
within her borders.

When England freed the slaves within her domin-
ions, she paid the owners of them one hundred
million dollars. This result was accomplished with-
out the loss of a single life or the firing of a gun, or
disturbance of any kind. A recent American writer
says on this subject:* " As I studied th-e columns
of figures of this grand book-account, the record of
the noblest financial transaction ever negotiated by
the men of any nation, I could not help indulging
a feeling of pride that I was a kinsman of the nation
of shop-keepers."

The Civil War ended in 1865, and the Confederacy
lay crushed and dead ; with it died slavery in the
United States. The North fought, so far as slavery
was concerned, for the freeing of the slave, and for
nothing else ; and it gained its point ; it did not fight
that the freed slaves might be placed on terms of
perfect equality with the white man* or even that he
might obtain the franchise. What it fought for is

*Down the Islands, pp. 73, By W. A. Patton.

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 209

expressed in the Amendment XIII. to the Constitu-
tion, which declares that " neither slavery nor in-
volvntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly con-
victed, shall exist within the United States or any
place subject to their jurisdiction."

At first, the process of re-constructing the ex-
Confederate States was not made to involve the
employment of the liberated slave as an agent for
subjection of his former master. After the close of
the war, each of the vanquished states received from
the President a provisional governor, who had
authority to call a convention to frame a State
constitution. The States soon recognized the new
situation. Under the new order of things, the
suffrage was still confined to white men, and senators
and representatives were duly elected and awaited
permission to act. They were almost all Democrats,
a fact which influenced the Republicans, who were
in power, to introduce a Bill into Congress for
the extension of the suffrage to the colored race in
the late Confederate States. Even Garfield so
forgot his usually chivalrous character, as to say
exultingly : "This Bill sets out by laying its hands
on the rebel governments, and taking the very breath
of life out of them ; in the next place, it puts the
bayonet at the breast of every rebel in the South ;
in the next place it leaves, in the hands of Congress
utterly and absolutely, the work of reconstruction."
The Bill thus cynically supported, was passed in
March, 1867, in spite of President's Johnson's veto,
and the President was impeached.

Now indeed, the Southern States were about to pay
dearly for their attempt at independence. They had
fought, and had poured forth blood and treasure ; they
had been beaten, and they had submitted, but they were
not forgiven. They had enslaved the black. Hence-
forth for a season, the black, ignorant, unscrupulous,

210 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

dissolute and corrupt, was to enslave them. A solid
South was created ; and the United States, united
only in name, became practically two nations.

This celebrated " Reconstruction Act," annulled
the State Governments then in operation ; divided
the states into military districts, and placed them
under martial law ; enfranchised the negroes ; and
disfranchised all, whether pardoned or not, who had
participated in the war against the Union, if they
had previously held any executive, legislative or
judicial office under the. State or General Govern-
ment.

Now we come to the results of negro rule in the
various states. In Alabama, as elsewhere, a working
and fairly satisfactory government was summarily
overthrown by a Republican government, dominated
by negroes, most of whom could not read or write or
express an intelligent opinion on any current topic.
Money was obtained for public works, but never
legitimately expended ; and the only people to profit
were the Northern " carpet-baggers " and the South-
ern negroes. Jobbery and corruption were universal
and unveiled ; all kinds of incompetent men were
appointed to judicial positions ; and in less than seven
years, this negro domination rendered the state
bankrupt, and the population furious.

North Carolina fared much as did Alabama ; her
most intelligent voters were proscribed, and power
fell into the hands of plunderers and adventurers.
The negroes were permitted to vote before they were
legally entitled to the suffrage. Several of the negro
members of the Legislature were unable to read or
write. At every opportunity, these men robbed the
state and trifled with its credit, while there was open
corruption and universal bribery. There was formed
a political "ring," which demanded and generally
received 10 per cent, on all appropriations passed
by the Legislature. Lavish entertainments were

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARtBBEE ISLANDS. 211

given and paid for out of public money. A regular
bar was established in the Capitol, and some of its
rooms devoted to the purpose of prostitution.
Decency fled abashed ; the spectacle of coarse,
ignorant, plantation negroes sitting at table, drinking
champagne and smoking Havannah cigars at the
state's expense, was not uncommon.

The boldness of the robbers of the state was
extraordinary. On one occasion they obtained au-
thority for an issue of bonds to the amount of $15,-
000,000 for the construction of a railway. These
bonds were all issued, and not so much as a single
yard of the line was ever laid.

So cruelly did South Carolina suffer during this
period, and so completely was she abased, that
before her sufferings were ended, she became known
as the " Prostrate State." Her best white citizens
being disfranchised, she could not make her real
voice heard. Her rulers were either ignorant
negroes, Northern adventurers, or Southern rene-
gades.

The writer was in Charleston during this period,
and in a conversation with Mr. Tupper, the President
of the Chamber of Commerce of that city, concerning
the state of affairs in the South, that gentleman said :
"We have received today, from Washington, an in-
vitation to join in the coming centennial celebration
at Philadelphia, but," said he bitterly, "what have
we to celebrate ? It would have been a thousand
times better if we had not revolted against England,
she never would have treated us in this manner.
Here we are ruled by our former slaves, aided by
thieves and scoundrels from the North. Every post
of emolument and honor is closed to us and our sons.
But" added he, significantly, "remove the troops,
that are quartered in the citadel, and we will show
very quickly to the world which is the governing
race."

212 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

It is impossible here, to go into the details of
negro rule in this state ; it was far worse than that
of any other Southern state. Franklin Moses, who
became governor in 1872, was so venal, that more
than one judge announced from the bench an un-
willingness to put the people to the expense and
trouble of convicting criminals for the Governor to
pardon. On a salary of $3,500, this man spent
yearly from $30,000 to $40,000. After his fall from
power, he became a criminal of the lowest character.
He was repeatedly sent to prison in New York and
Boston for petty thieving, fraud, and swindling,
and finally for stealing an overcoat from the hall of a
New York house. He was the most incorrigible
scoundrel, first and last, of all the carpet-bag governors.

The Legislature was composed of plantation
negroes, whose type it would be hard to find outside
of the Congo. The Speaker was black, the clerk
was black, the door-keepers were black, the little
pages were black, the Chairmen of the Ways and
Means were black, and the chaplain was coal black.
It was composed of the dregs of the population,
habited in the robes of their intelligent predecessors,
through the inexorable machinery of a majority of
numbers ; it was barbarism overwhelming civiliza-
tion by physical force.

Here was the outcome, the ripe, perfected fruit
of the boasted civilization of the South after 200
years of experience. A white community had gradu-
ally risen from small beginnings, till it grew into
wealth, culture and refinement, and became accom-
plished in all the arts of civilization ; had successfully
asserted -its resistence to unjust laws by deeds of
conspicuous valor ; had achieved liberty and inde-
pendence, and distinguished itself in the councils of
the nation by orators and statesmen worthy of any age
and nation ; and had just passed through a sectional
war in which it had poured out its blood and treasures

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS, 213

like water. Such a community was reduced to this
wretched condition, lying prostrate in the dust, ruled
over by African savages, but half civilized, gathered
from the ranks of its own servile population, presenting
such a picture of corruption, extravagance and legisla-
tive wickedness, such as never prevailed elsewhere,
even in Hayti, in its worst days.

The furnishings of the hall of the House of
Representatives were of the most expensive materials,
costing $100,000: it has been recently refurnished
for $300. At least forty bedrooms were furnished
at the public expense, some, three times over ; a
restaurant was also maintained there, where the
officials and their friends and relatives helped them-
selves, without stint, to the costliest of food, liquors
and cigars, at the cost of the tax-payers ; for six
years, it was kept open from eight o'clock one morn-
ing until three o'clock the next. In a single session,
the restaurant swallowed up $100,000. Taxes in-
creased from $400,000 per year to $2,000,000 ; the
stationery bill of the House from $400 to $16,000.
The monthly printing bill, during the eight years of
negro rule, was $56,000 ; during the succeeding ad-
ministration, under General Wade Hampton, it
averaged $500.

In Mississippi, the Legislature was of the usual
"black and tan" complexion, and in qualities of
ignorance, corruption and depravity, was all the
imagination can conceive. It was a fool's paradise
for the negroes, who undertook to perform what
they were incapable of doing. Within six years
6,400,000 acreS of land were adjudged forfeited for
non-payment of the taxes which were necessary to
support the extravagance and folly of the ruling
clique ; and so matters went from bad to worse, until
after years of waste, tyranny and extravagance on
the part of their governors, the whites could submit
no longer.

214 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

Louisiana fared much worse, in some respects, than
did South Carolina, for in that state the agony was
not so bloody. Louisiana was plundered wholesale
in every direction, during negro rule. The state lost
$100,000,000, more than half -the total estimated
wealth of the state.

In 1874, the whites organized themselves for pro-
tection under the style of the White League. Their
attempts to right themselves led to a bloody battle
at New Orleans, in which forty people were killed and
100 wounded. Governor Kellogg was overthrown,
but was re-instated by the Federal forces.

The history of negro rule during the re-construction
period, could be traced with the same results in
Virginia, Georgia, Florida, West Virginia, Tennessee,
Missouri and Arkansas ; but I believe I have written
enough to show its results. After eight years, the
bitter feeling in the North towards the South gradually
changed, and new questions arose that divided the solid
Republican majorities. During the Presidential con-
test between Hayes and Tilden, (there is but little
doubt that Tilden was elected), a recount of electoriai
votes was necessary. South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana were doubtful states. Hayes promised, if
he was elected, he would remove the troops from the
South : here was the South's opportunity at last, as it
held the balance of power. Southerners knew that this
was more than their own candidate would dare to do
for them ; they trusted Hayes, he was declared elected,
and Tilden was counted out. Hayes was as good as
his word, the troops were removed, the whites were
then their own masters again. South Carolina elected
its famous general, Wade Hampton, for governor, and
the other states followed likewise.

The foregoing examples of negro rule will show
the reason and excuse for the political feeling which
occupies the first place in the heart of every Southern
white man, and which caused a " Solid South." That

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARJBBEE ISLANDS. 215

feeling is, by itself, a political creed, stronger than
the creed of Republican or Democrat ; and it may be
thus formulated. " You have freed our slaves, and,
far from regretting, we rejoice in what you have
done. Without properly consulting us, you have
given those ex-slaves the suffrage and civil rights.
There you have greatly erred. While we will admit
that some negroes and colored people are fit to
exercise the suffrage, we are of opinion that the vast
majority of them are incapable of it, either 'for their
own welfare, or to the benefit of the white people
among whom they live, and to the general advantage
of the nation. Apart from this opinion of ours, and
quite regardless of the question whether that opinion
be sound or not, we are steadfastly determined never
to submit to any form, direct or indirect, of negro
government. We have experienced this form of
government, and we intend, therefore, to risk no
more of it. The negroes in -some places may be more
numerous than the whites, it must make no differ-
ence, the white must rule, no matter at what cost.
You shall never again while we exist, compel us to
relinquish this determination. Our view does not,
it may be, accord with the principles of your XV.
Amendment, but it accords with our idea of what
is necessary for our social comfort and security,
and we intend steadfastly to adhere to it, even if
it should cost in blood and treasure and everything
we hold dear. You Northerners have never known
any form of negro domination, and have never
been in danger of it. Indeed, you know little
about the negro. We have to live with him, and we
are familiar with his failings as well as with his
virtues. Our knowledge tells us that it would be
suicidal folly to entrust ourselves, our families and our
fortunes to his political discretion. You think other-
wise ; but do not, we pray you, ever attempt to make
us practice in all their fulness, your very humane

216 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

theories. We would rather die at once. We also
know that Congress once passed a Civil Rights Bill,
which directed, ' that all persons should be entitled
to the same rights and privileges in public convey-
ances, inns, theatres, and other places of amusements,
without regard to race or color.' That was very
well in theory, but the Act has been held by the
United States Supreme Court to be unconstitutional,
and, in any case, you must never ask us to accept it.
There are occasions when we cannot admit that
whites and blacks are equal."

The above position is one upon which the whites
of the South are practically unanimous. It is a
position of danger ; for if not an open, it is a covert hos-
tility to the spirit of the laws of the Union. A strict
and rigid enforcement of those laws under a " Force
Bill," such as was just defeated, would, there is no
doubt, create an exceedingly grave crisis.

The question naturally arises, How is the negro
deprived of the rights the law pretends to give him ?
He is deprived of his political rights by fraud, force
and intimidation. And, strange to say, even the
most respected, (and in ordinary dealings, upright)
white people of the South will admit this fact, and
excuse and defend it ; and stranger still, very many
honorable citizens of the North, Republicans as well
as Democrats, do not hesitate to declare, " If I were
a Southern white man, I should act as the Southern
white men do." The white in the South, who does
not believe in it, above all else, is regarded as a
traitor and an outcast.

At present, even in South Carolina, which is the
"blackest" State in the Union, (where the negroes
far outnumber the whites), the white, and the white
only ,rule ; this can be said of all the Southern States.
After the removal of the troops, the whites at first
enforced their will with the rifle and revolver. In
many places, the negro could not approach the ballot-

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 217

box without risking his life, and so stayed away.
There were many " rifle clubs " formed, and Ku
Klux Klan societies ; the members were whites of
good position, who were determined, no matter how
much blood it might cost, to make the "colored
people behave themselves." Then followed the less
violent recourse to "tissue ballots." "'Let the
negroes vote if they will " was the word, " we will
stultify their actions by fraud, which is safer than
force." And so it happened, that, as in South
Carolina, although the negro majority trooped to the
polls and voted Republican names, the returning
officers found that almost without exception, the men
who were elected were Democrats. This was done
by the use of "tissue ballots" printed upon the
thinnest of tissue paper, so that some twenty-five
of them would only equal in thickness an ordinary
ballot. They were deposited by the whites ; and
if the negroes suspected or protested, revolvers
were exhibited by the other side, and used if
necessary.

The Charleston News and Courier, an old and
respected Southern newspaper, during the recent
campaign, coolly gave to its readers the following
conspicuously-printed piece of advice, " Go to the
polls to-day. Vote early, vote often, vote straight."
Throughout the United States, the social position
of the man in whose veins the smallest amount of
negro blood courses, is unalterably fixed at birth. He
may grow to be wise, to be wealthy, to be even en-
trusted with the responsibilities of office ; but he is
condemned to remain forever at the bottom of the
social ladder. A white man may be ignorant, vicious
and poor ; for him, in spite of all, the door is ever
kept open. For the being with the hated taint there
is positively no social mercy, no matter what his
personal merits may be, he is ruthlessly shut out.
The white absolutely declines to associate with him

218 STARTS HISTORY AND GUIDE

on equal terms. Aline has been drawn ; and he who
crosses that line has to pay the penalty. If he be a
negro, who dares to cross, cruelty and violence chase
him promptly back again, or kill him for his temerity.
If he be white, ostracism is the recognized penalty.
Even Abraham Lincoln said in a speech in 1858 :

" I am not, and never have been, in favor of bring-
ing about, in any form, the social and political
equality of the white and black races. There is a
physical difference which" forbids them from living
together on terms of social and political equality.
And, inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do
remain together, there must be a position of superior
and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in
favor of having the superior assigned to the whites."

The attitude of the Southern white towards the
negro is, nevertheless, not an unkind one. It is
rather that of a guardian, and within certain limits,
he treats him better than the Northern man does.
He was probably nursed by a black woman, and in
his childhood days played with the young negroes on
his father's plantation. He freely provides his ex-
slave with facilities for education, with medical
care in seasons of sickness, with opportunities for
religious instruction, and does for the black man a
great many good deeds, which the black man would
never dream of trying to do for himself. He, how-
ever, holds that the negro is physically and intel-
lectually inferior in the scale of humanity ; and will,
under no condition, accept him as his equal in society,
at the polls, in the courts of law, or in the school.

The Northern man seems to hate the negro prim-
arily on account of his color. In domestic service,
the filthiest and most ignorant Irish or German
servant refuses to eat at the same table with the
cleanest and most respectable negro. In the princi-
pal Northern hotels the wealthiest negro in the land
could not purchase, at any price, the privilege of

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 219

sitting in the common' dining-room, or of occupying
one of the sleeping apartments. Industrially, he is
restricted to the least profitable, menial trades.
Labor unions, with their Utopian principles of uni-
versal brotherhood^ do not dare to cast their mantle
of protection- over the laborer with the black skin.
He is not wanted in the Church, and is excluded
from Masonic and Odd Fellows societies.

" Lynched for the usual crime " is a stereotyped
heading in many scores of Southern newspapers.
This sentence conveys the evidence concerning the
most awful phase of the struggle between the white
and black man.

A gentleman, who knows the South as few know
it, and who has for the negro a genuine and kindly
regard ; recently said, " If the option were offered me
of taking my wife and family into one of the black
country districts of the South, or into a jungle full of
wild beasts, and if I were obliged to leave them
without proper protection, I would, unhesitatingly,
choose the jungle." The gentleman, who made this
remark, is the author of " An Appeal to Pharaoh," the
most remarkable book that has yet appeared upon
the Race Question.

It was useless to ask him why, for everyone that
has been in the South knows that no white woman
is safe, from hour to hour, in those black country dis-
tricts. It was because the race war, on the negroes'
side, is waged largely against those whites who
are least capable of self-protection, and whose safety
is held most precious by those to whom they are
near and dear. This crime is almost of daily occur-
ence in the South, and the brutality of the negro's
act is not less conspicuous than the speed and cruelty
with which the victim is avenged. The penalty is
swift, sure and effective; without waiting for judge
or jury to decide the case, the miscreant is imme-
diately shot, hanged, or even burnt at the stake.*

*See " Black America," Cassell & Company, Publishers, London, 1891.

220 STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

On both sides, it is a terrible and almost unpar-
alleled state of affairs that exists in the South today ;
it is one of the most extraordinary episodes in the
modern history of any civilized country. After the
war, the North complacently folded its hands and
announced that the race problem had been forever
disposed of. It soon learned that such was not pre-
cisely the case. Then, after making an effort at its
settlement, it declared that the race problem was no
longer its affair, and that it might be left to solve
itself. Since then, years have elapsed, and the ques-
tion remains unsettled, paralysing the South, men-
ancing the whole Union, and liable at any moment
to involve hundreds of thousands of miles of territory,
and millions of human lives in a catastrophe, far
worse than that of the great Civil War ; for a war of
races means a war of extermination.

It was thought that in a state of freedom, the negro
would die out, as all inferior races have done in the
past, when brought in contact with civilization ; but
the contrary has been the result. At the close of
the civil war, there were about four millions of
negroes and colored people in the United States ;
now there are about eight millions. In four of the
states they outnumber the whites, and in five more,
the white majority for years has been growing less,
and in a very shoit period will disappear entirely.
As in the West Indies, the Anglo-Saxon cannot en-
dure the heat, but it is exceedingly grateful to the
negro. In the lowlands, the negro constitution defies
fevers that prove fatal to the white man's health.
And so, apart from the question of deaths and births,
some parts of the Southern States tend every year
to grow blacker, while others as steadily become
whiter. Still, nevertheless — even where the negro
is in a conclusive majority — the Southern white
persists in his dogged resolution not to allow the
blacks to meddle with the machinery of government,

TO BARBADOS AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 221

not to permit him, for an instant, to wear the full
robe of citizenship that has been presented to him by
the North. Hitherto, the black has, upon the whole,
meekly submitted to this illegal deprivation of his
rights. Can he be expected to submit forever, or will
he some day attempt by force to seize that to which
he is by law entitled ? Should he ever do this, there
will be a scene of horror, such as the South never
witnessed in the darkest days of the Civil War ; his
fate will be that of the Indians — total extermination.
So much is absolutely certain.

In this chapter, and the preceeding one on Hayti,
I have endeavored to demonstrate to the whites of
the Caribbee Islands, and Barbados in particular,
what the effect of negro rule would be in those
islands, if the negroes were granted universal suffrage.
If left to themselves without any outside interfer-
ence, the result would be the same as in Hayti ; the
whites would be exterminated. But, as England
would not be likely to abandon her West Indian
possessions, both' sides would have to keep the peace ;
for England would make no distinction in her treat-
ment of the black and the white man. Under these
conditions the negro would rule, for they would be
greatly in the majority, and the same state of affairs
would then exist as occurred in the Sourhern States
during the Reconstruction period, the whites then
would leave the islands, and the negro would return
to his original condition, that of a savage.

INDEX TO TEXT.

PAGE.

Agriculture

Alleyne school, . . . 173

Amusements, . . . 113

Antigua, . . . 21,22,23
Animal Flower Cave, . * . 135

Atkins, Sir John, ,
Ayscue, Sir George, . . 75

Barbados, . . 56, 57, 59, 101, 191

Bathsheba 120

Basseterre, St. Kitts, . . 10, 14
Basseterre, Guadaloupe, . 28

Beckwith, Governor, . . 90

Bell, Governor, ... 74

Boiling Lake, Dominica, . 32

Boiling Spring, ... 135

Botanic Gardens, Martinique, 43
Brazil Mail Steamship Company, 2
Bryant, Profes&or, . . 169

Camels \ 157

Cannabalism in Hayti, . 198

Carlisle Bay 56

Carlisle, Earl of, . . . 64,73
Caribs, .... 13,34,51
Caribbee Islands, . 1, 2, 8, 22, 191
Caribbean Sea. ... 4

Cane Field, plantation, . 123

Caves in Barbados, . . 127

Cathedral at Guadaloupe, . 28

Charlestown, Nevis, . . 18

Christian si aed, ... 7

Charles the First, executed, 73

Christ Church, . . . 140,141
Civil War in Barbados, . 72

Climate of Barbados, . . 110

Codrington, General, . . 167

Codrington, Colonel Christoper, 167
Codrington, William, . . 168

Cole's Cave 127

College, Codrington, . . 170

College, Harrison, . . 171

College, Q teen's, ... 173

Combemere, .... 144, 145
Commissioners sent to Barbados, 66
Coffins displaced. ... 145

Courteen, Sir William, . 61

Count de Grasse, . 38, 41, 200
Count de Rochambeau, . 201

Crane Hotel 118, 138

Creoles, 45

Danish West Indies, . 6. 7

Deans, Captain William, . 64

Dessalines, negro general, . 202

De Grasse, Count. . 38,41,200
De Rochambeau Count, B. 201

Diamond Rock, ... 49

PAGE.

Dominica, .... 31

Dunscomb ravine, . . 134

Emigration to Barbados, . 71

Education in Barbados, . 167

Episcopal Church in Barbados, 163
Fer-de-Lance, snake, . . 6, 7

Fishing in Barbados, . . 115

Fontaine Chaude, Martinique, 49
Fortifications, ... 52

Fredericks! aed, Santa Cruiz, 6, 7
Gulf Stream, . . . 2, 4, 5

Guadaloupe 27

Gullies, 129

Geology of Barbados, . . 176

Hackieton's Cliff, . . . 120, 148
Hamilton, Alexander, . 20, 21, 207
Harrison College, . . 171

Hastings 67, 121

Hawley, Captain Henry, . 67

Hayti 198,202,204

Horse Cars in Barbados, . 160

H ucks, Sir Henry, . . 68

Hunting of Negroes, . . 106

Irish in St. Kitts, ... 83

Irish in Barbados, . . 102

Irish, Wild 83

Ice House, Barbados, . . 58

Indians of Barbados, 59, 62, 105, 151,

Indian s of Hayti, . . .199
Indians of Bahama Islands, 199

Inhabitants of Barbados, . 106

Insurrection of Negroes, . 93

Jews in Barbados, . . 163

Josephine, Empress, . . 46

Josephine, Marriage of, . 47

Journal, Washington's, . 184

Labnt, Le Pere, ... 28

Ligon's llistorj of Barbados, 157
Library, Public, ... 174

Lincoln, Abraham, on negro rule, 218
Lord's Castle, ... 119

Martinique, . 42

Marine Hotel, ... 57

Massacre in Hayti, . . 201

Methodist sin Barbados, . 162

Mod\ford, Colonel, . . 77

Montserrat, . . . .25,26
Mommouth Rebellion, . 82, 102
Monkeys, .... 134

Moravians in Barbados, . 163

Nevis, 18

Nelson, Lord. . . 20, 89, 90
Negroes of Barbados, . . 108

Negro Rule, . . . 193, 198, 206

INDEX.

Obeah, Superstition, .
Oceanic Deposit, .
Oistin's Bay, .
Old Roads, St Kitts, .
Olive Blossom, Vessel,
Petroleum in Barbados,
Paleologus,
Pirates . . .

PAGE.

. 164, 194
177
140
. 8, 10, 14
60
158
149
96

Pintons of St. Lucia, .
Population of Barbados,
Powell, Captain, ..
Porto Rico, .
Potteries,
Porey's Spring,
Privateering,
Prisoners sent to St. Kitts,
Prisonerssent to Barbados,
Quakers in Barbados, .
Quebec Steamship Co.,
•Queen's College, .
Red legs, .

51
158
62
4
124
133
85,92
15
82,102,104
162
1
'173
122

Remarkable Occurrence,
Religion in Barbados, .
Red Soil. . ,
Reeves, Sir Conrad,
Rochambeau. Count de,
Roman Catholic, .
Rodney, Admiral,

142
161
182
193
201
161
. 5, 37, 53
35

Rotherham, Rev. Thomas,
Saba .

169
3

Sandy Point, St. Kitts,
Santa Cruiz, . . .
Sail Rock,
San Domingo,
Savannah, Barbados, .
Sea View Hotel, .
Searle, Colonel Daniel,
School, Alleyne, .
School, Coleridge,
School, Primary, .

. 8, 10, 14
6
4
199
113
58
99
173
174
174

PAGE.

Scotchmen, ... 16

Sonfriere, Guadaloupe, . 29

Sonfriere, Dominica, . . 32

Sonfriere, St. Lucia, . . 50

Standish.Myles, ... 24

St. Kitts, . . 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15

St. Thomas 4

St. Lucia, . . . 53, 54, 55
St. John's Church, . . 148

St. Eustatius, ... 8

Stamp Act, .... 8 •

Slaves 69, conspiracy, 70, 84, 85, 93 to 5
Slave Trade Abolished, . 98

Slavery Abolished, . . 99

Sugar, exports, 158, manufacture of,

154

Telephone in Barbados, . 159

Thornhill, Sir Timothy, . 84,167
Tufton. Sir William, . . 67

Turner's Hall Woods, . . 134

United States, Negro Rule in, 210
United States, Slavery in. . 206

United States, Civil War in, 208

United States, Reconstruction, 210
Voyage to Barbados and Caribbee

Islands, 1

Vernon, Admiral, ... 182

Vernon, Mount, . . . 185, 189
Voodooism, . . . 164, 166, 198
Warner, Thomas, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 24
Washington, George, in Barbados, 184
Washington, Major Lawrence,

Watering Places,
War with France,
War with the United States
Welshman Hall Gullie,
Whale Fishery,
Willoughby. Lord,
Winthrop, John, .
Winthrop, Henry,

118
85,88
87,92

131

116

72,80

12, 23. 63

101

Wolferstone, Captain Charles, 64

YbHors.

While Barbados is remotely situated and relatively
a very small place, yet owing to its central location,
large population, and trade with the Caribbee Islands
and South America, it has become the trade center
of this part of the world ; consequently there are
many large stores in Bridgetown such as Harrison
& Co., Whitfield & Co., and Quirk & Co., where
first-class goods of every description can be obtained
at a much less cost than the same goods sell for in
New York.

Visitors who desire to take away with them some
memento of the Islands, will find curiosities in great
variety at G. G. Belgrave's New Curiosity Shop
opposite the Ice House. One of the best souvenirs
of Barbados is the large size photograph views, (from
which nearly all the illustrations in this work were
made,) published by W. G. Cooper, 8 High street.

In connection with this work we have given on the
following pages, the address of several business
houses that will prove of value to persons visiting
Barbados.

Established 1872.
CABLE ADDRESS :

HARRISON,

BARBADOS.

HARDWARE AND DRY GOODS

WAREHOUSEMEN.
Commission and General

MERCHANTS.

C. F. HHRRISON & CO.,

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL

Drapers, Furnishers, and Outfitters,

LADIES' COSTUMES AND GENTS' CLOTHING
MADE TO ORDER

From a very large stock of the best materials of the newest
designs and colourings, and of the most popular makes, in a
large variety of English, Scotch, and French materials.

Our charges are very moderate, and orders are executed on
the shortest notice.

Millinery, Costumes, Laces,

Ribbons, Flowers, Feathers, Gloves,

and other Fancy Drapery,

Hosiery and Haberdashery,

Shirts, Scarfs, Ties, Collars, Handkerchiefs, etc.

BROAD STREET, - - BARBADOS.

Established 1872.

CABLE ADDRESS:

HARRISON.

BARBADOS.

Hardware and Dry Goods
Warehousemen.

COMMISSION AND GENERAL

MERCHANTS.

C. F. HARRISON & CO.,

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL

Household Furnishers and General Suppliers.

SPACIOUS WAREHOUSES

DEPARTMENTS.

Hardware, Cutlery,

Electro-Plate,

Chinaware, Glass-
ware, Earthen-
ware, Furniture,

Beds and Bedding,

Saddlery, Harness,

Carriages,

Travelling Requi-
sites,

Cricket and Lawn
Tennis Goods.

AND SHOWROOMS

Clothing, Millinery, Drapery,

Novelties,
and Fancy Goods.

DEPARTMENTS.

Dry Goods,

Cottons,

Linens,

Woolens,

Hosiery,

Haberdashery,

Millinery,

Fancy Goods,

Curtains,

Carpets,

Floor Cloths,

Mats.

Specialties in Carriages, Buggies, and Harness.
Carriage and Travelling Rugs.

Soaps, Perfumes, and Toilet Requisites.
Chinese and Japanese Goods.

English and French Chinaware and Glassware.

BROAD STREET,

BARBADOS,

(Opposite the
Colonial Bank)

BROAD ST,

BARBADOS,

w. L

JjflDlES' DEPARTMENT.

Everything for Ladies' wear
HIGH-CLASS - FASHIONABLE - GOODS

AT MODERATE COST.

Dresses, etc,, furnished to measure,

CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT.

ALL THE LATEST NOVELTIES IN
• • • Boys and Girls' • • •

COMPLETE CLOTHING.

gENTLEMEN'S DEPflRTMENT.

Suits and Trousers to Measure,

PANTS, UNDERVESTS, & HALF HOSE.

Shirts, Collars, and Ties.

Gloves and Handkerchiefs.
DRESSING GOWNS, PYJAMAS, UMBRELLAS.
BOOTS HND SHOES.

GEORGE WHITFIELD & CO,,

HOUSEHOLD STORES,

5 Broad St., Bridgetown, - Barbados,

IMPORTERS OF

STAPLE AND FANCY

DRY GOODS

»•— —OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.

Family Groceries and Provisions.

Wines, Spirits, and Malt Liquors.

English and American Iced Luxuries.

Fresh Meat and Vegetables.

• • • • ALSO AGENTS FOR THE • • • •

WEST INDIAN AND BRITISH GUIANA ICE COMPANY,

(LIMITED).

Senflernei) visiting Barbados would do well to
— ..... - inspect our stock of Tweeds and Coat-
ings, Suitings and Homespuns, which is quite
unrivalled. Our Ready-made Clothing and Out-
fitting Department will be found well stocked with
the latest fashions at reasonable prices.

dies wil1 finc* our Fancy Dress Department and
Millinery Showroom replete with the Latest

Novelties from the English and European Markets.

G-EDRG-E WHITFIELD & CD,

W. G. COOPER,

• Photographer, •

PORTRAITS AND OUT-DOOR GROUPS A SPECIALTY,

1JLJE have a large assortment of fine BARBADOS
*A* VIEWS, mounted and unmounted. Every visitor
should purchase a collection of them as a memento of
.their visit to this Island.

3 HIGH ST., • • BRIDGETOWN,

BARBADOS.

A. P. FOSTER & CO,,

Carriages with drivers furnished to go to
any part of the Island; prices moderate.

YOUR PATRONAGE MOST RESPECTFULLY SOLICITED.

ORDERS EXECUTED DAY OR NIGHT.

BOLTON LANE, BRIDGETOWN,

OR MARINE HOTEL, BARBADOS.

BOWEN & SONS,

ooksellers ^ $tationers:

20 BROAD ST., - - BRIDGETOWN,

AGENTS FOR

Stark's History and Guide to Bermuda.

the Bahamas.

Barbados and
the Caribbee Islands.

BOOKS OF EMERY DESCRIPTION.

QTflTIONERY, MUSIC,
O ......

7TRTIST MflTERIflLS.
ri"

JEWELLERY, NOVELTIES, AND HOUSEHOLD
DECORATIONS.

Largest Variety of Books and Stationery in Barbados.

5ea • Viev • Motel,

HASTINGS, BARBADOS,

NEARLY OPPOSITE GARRISON SAVANNAH.

Spacious, comfortable, and airy rooms — beautiful view of
the sea, and altogether a most desirable residence.

PROPRIETRESS: MRS. MHLTON PIGGOTT.

TERMS : Ten Dollars per week ; Eight Shillings per day.

-THE-

New Curiosity Shop,

OPPOSITE "THE ICE HOUSE,"

MCGREGOR ST., BARBADOS, w. i.

P. O. BOX NO. 8.

Dealer in Specimens of Natural History in Shells, Crabs,
Lobsters, Fish, Pink & White Coral, & Mounted Birds.

*- -RGY WSRK

In Fish Scales, Rice Shell, Coral Shell, Green Pea Shell,

Aurora Shell, Sea Ferns in Bouquets for Framing,

Mimosa Seed and Spanish Bayonet.

Turtle Shell Work done to order and repaired, also Turtle Backs
and Toilet Combs, etc., in stock.

Also a large assortment of Leopard Wood and other Walking Sticks
always in stock. Special attention paid to orders for exportation.

Views of the Island, and Old Postage Stamps, An inspection respectfully solicited.

G. G. BELGRAVE, Proprietor.

MARINE HOTEL,

BSRBHDOS, - WEST INDIES.

E finest health resort in the tropics, situated on the
fairest isle in all the Southern seas, in a land o:
perpetual summer, where frost, fogs, or mists
are unknown ; the average temperature is 75 to 80
degrees.

The Hotel is about two miles from the steamer landing,
with street car connection. It is built of limestone, walls
30 inches thick, building 360 feet long, with two wings.
It contains 200 apartments. The rooms are light and airy
and have a splendid sea-view. The sea-bathing is the finest
in the world, the temperature of which is suitable for the.
most delicate invalid, also private fresh-water baths, douche
and shower, in the hotel.

A fine stable is connected with the Hotel. Horses for
riding and carriages furnished at moderate cost.

TERMS, $2.50 TO $4.oo PER DAY.

G, S, POMEROY & CO,, - -' PROPRIETORS,

BHRBHDOS, WEST INDIES.

• • • • AGENTS : • • • •

PAUL F. GERHARD & CO., 19 Whitehall St., New York,

QUEBEC S. S. CO., 39 Broadway, N. Y., or
THOS. COOK & SON, 261 Broadway, New York.

STARR'S

Illustrated Bermuda Guide.

Two hundred pages, profusely illustrated with maps,
and Photo-Prints, 12 mo. $1.50 post paid.

"A most exhaustive book on Bermuda. Mr. J. H. Stark spent one season in
Bermuda for the express purpose of collecting material for a history and guide-book,
and nothing is omitted or overlooked which the invalid or traveller for pleasure will
wish to know." — Boston Transcript.

" The Illustrated Bermuda Guide, written by Mr. James H. Stark, of this city, is
the latest book on the Bermuda Islands. It contains twenty-four artistic photo-prints,
besides several handy maps of the islands which will be of much coi venience to the
tourist who seeks rest and pleasure in the miniature continent 700 miles from New
York.

The text of the volume treats of the historv, inhabitants, climate, agriculture, geol-
ogy, government, and military and naval establishments of Bermuda, describing in an
entertaining fashion the most noticeable features of the island, and furnishing a brief
sketch of life in Bermuda from the original settlement until to-day." — Boston Herald,

STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE

TO THE

BAHAMA ISLANDS.

Fully illustrated with Maps, Photo-Prints, and wood-
cuts, 12 mo. $2.00 post paid.

" I have read your Book on the Bahamas with great care and interest, and can
confidently speak of it as the most trustworthy account of the Colony that has yet
been published."

SIR AMBROSE SHEA,

Governor of the Bahamas.

" Your book has exceeded my expectations, you have filled up a gap in the history
of the English Empire, especially in the history of our colonies that deserves the
encomiums of every Englishman aye and of every American who reads your book.
The colonists of the Bahamas owe you a debt that they can never fully repay."
G. C. CAMPLEJOHK,

Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Bahamas.

FOR SALE BY

The Photo Electrotype Co., 275 Washington street, Boston.

Damrell & Upham, Old Corner Bookstore, Boston.

Bretano, 5 Union Square, New York,

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

F Stark, James H. (Jmaes Henry)

2041 Stark fs history and guide

S8 to Barbados and the Caribbee

Islands

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